Air Academy’s Kylee Blacksten commits to University of Colorado
Kylee Blacksten’s search for a college basketball program spanned far and wide and the Air Academy senior made sure to cast a wide net in the interest of doing her due diligence. Several Division-I programs appealed to her but in…
Access all of Prep Girls Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingKylee Blacksten’s search for a college basketball program spanned far and wide and the Air Academy senior made sure to cast a wide net in the interest of doing her due diligence.
Several Division-I programs appealed to her but in the end, Blacksten’s search eventually led her full circle back to her home state. On Monday, Blacksten announced her commitment to play basketball at the University of Colorado.
“Honestly, I loved the girls, I loved the coaches, and I loved being able to stay in Colorado and represent my own state,” Blacksten said. “The campus is gorgeous and I really wanted a good school where I felt like I fit in. When I started the recruiting process, I didn’t realize how much I would miss Colorado and being close to my family. That became a really big thing for me towards the end so being able to stay in-state and have that is huge.”
Photo credit: University of Colorado@BCDenver_WBB @CUBuffsWBB @GeoffGolden pic.twitter.com/nt5H1ZaZua
— Kylee Blacksten (@BlackstenKylee) October 14, 2019
Blacksten, a rare 6-foot-3 player who can play either guard or forward, is the No. 5 player in the Prep Hoops Colorado 2020 player rankings. She averaged 14.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 2.5 steals and 1.8 blocks and shot 34 percent from 3-point range as a junior. Blacksten led the Kadets (26-1) to the Colorado’s 4A Final Four in 2019
Along her way to arriving back home, Blacksten, who plays club for BC Denver, went on official visits to Boise State, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Wake Forrest, and Kansas State.
“It was a really hard decision,” Blacksten said. “I called the other coaches myself to tell them I was going to CU and that was the worst day of my life because you get so close with them and they become like a part of the family because you’re talking to them all the time.”
Blacksten joins will eventually join fellow CU commit Kindyll Wetta (Valor Christian 2021) and also continued a recent trend of high-profile local recruits committing to remain in Colorado. In the past several weeks, Cherry Creek’s Cali Clark and Cherokee Trail’s Makayla Hemingway committed to Colorado State, Pueblo West’s Hannah Simental and Golden’s Eli Garnett committed to Northern Colorado, and St. Mary’s Josephine Howery committed to Colorado School of Mines.