By Joanna Chadwick

Basketball is in Cheney junior Kylee Scheer’s blood.

There’s her sister, Payton, who helped lead Cheney to the 2010 Class 4A title and is now coaching middle school basketball. Her brother, Trent, plays at Baker.

Their dad, Rod, coaches Cheney, which finished second in Class 4A in 2019. He played at Seward County Community College and North Dakota, while her mom, Deb, played at Colby Community College.

Deb and Rod met when Rod was an assistant for the Colby men and Deb was the assistant for the women.

“We are always going to my sister’s game, and since Trent is at Baker, I feel like we’re traveling back and forth from there watching him,” Kylee Scheer said. “There’s always a basketball game on one of our TVs. We even have the three-point line painted on our driveway.

“… I feel like I’ve always been in the gym since I was a little girl. My dad has been coaching my whole life. I was always dragged to games. Starting at a young age really helped, even just being in the gym with him. I’m left-handed. That threw him for a loop. I’m just glad I started at the age I did. I don’t think I’d be as good a shooter if I didn’t.”

Scheer is averaging 22.9 points per game through the season’s first 10 games. She is shooting 51 percent from the floor, including 39 percent from three. She has made 37 threes and is averaging 4.1 rebounds.

A shooting guard, Scheer has scored 878 career points, hitting 126 three-pointers.

“Even if I’m struggling, I find ways to fix it,” Scheer said. “My dad can always point out something I’m doing wrong if it’s not falling. I do wonder sometimes how my shot can look good and it doesn’t go in.”

Scheer’s game has progressed on the defensive side — she also averages 3.6 steals. And she’s more aggressive offensively, willing to attack the lane.

Cheney’s lone loss was in overtime to Sterling, right before the winter break.

“We had some tough practices over Christmas break,” Scheer said.

Cheney wants to get back to the championship, though, so it was worth it.

“I feel like we have a really good point guard in Lexi Cline because she can find people in transition and she’s able to make these passes and then guard the people that she does. She’s probably the fastest player in our league. We don’t have the tallest girls, but our speed makes up for it when we’re pressing full court.”