Imagine knowing all the work, sweat, and tears you have put in for years pays off as you earn an offer to continue playing the game you love at the collegiate level. Lewis Cass High School senior, Mylie Sipe has accomplished just that as she has committed to play on scholarship with Indiana Tech University’s women’s basketball program in Ft. Wayne, IN. After many hardships and major setbacks, Mylie has persevered and has been a part of the last two historically successful Lady Kings’ basketball seasons at Lewis Cass. Mylie has worked and played hard, and it has clearly paid off.
Although most people do not see the blood, sweat, and tears behind a hard-working athlete; it takes so much to be successful. Mylie Sipe was asked about her journey in becoming a committed athlete. In middle school, Mylie suffered a season-ending injury which caused her problems over the next few years including her first year of varsity basketball. Although she missed a large part of her freshman season, Mylie was able to return and play in games toward the end of the season. Mylie was asked after suffering this injury and dealing with such a large setback, what kept her going and continuing to work in order to return to playing. Sipe replied saying it was her passion for basketball that kept her going, driving her to become a better player. Mylie has always wanted to win a sectional championship ever since she was young and would watch the older girls play. This made her continue to work and push through tough times.
The Indiana Tech commit, Mylie Sipe, was asked aside from the team’s two successful seasons, what does she contribute to her personal success? Sipe responded by saying the Lord, as he has helped her so much throughout her career in many more ways than one. As well as the Lord, Sipe says her mother, her high school coach Kyle Amor, AAU coach, and trainer, have all poured into and assisted her in becoming the best student-athlete she can be on and off the court.
Mylie was a large part of the Lady Kings’ basketball team at Lewis Cass this year. Mylie said what she will miss most about playing on this team is all the amazing memories she had made and the friendships she formed with the other girls along the way during the course of her career. Sipe was asked what her favorite memory was during her career at Lewis Cass. She replied saying her favorite memory was winning the sectional and regional championships in 2024. High school basketball and college basketball are vastly different in many ways such as the speed of the game, coaching style, and atmosphere. Mylie was asked what she is looking forward to when she moves on to play college basketball at this level. Sipe is looking forward to adapting to college basketball and the style of play at Indiana Tech.
Playing college basketball can be challenging without much exposure to college coaches or recruiters. Sipe was asked how she went about getting her name out to the right people to be recruited. Mylie replied recruiting sites are a way to get your name out there. Although some sites cost money, she did not pay for any and only used the basic free ones. Athletes can also fill out recruitment forms on college websites. Another way is finding an AAU team to play on that travels around as this can get college exposure at tournaments. College coaches often attend larger tournaments looking for potential prospects for their future teams. Mylie said her AAU coach also helped her reach out to colleges, and she attended prospect camps where recruiters and college coaches were watching from the sidelines looking for players to add to their future rosters. Sipe said attending a camp like this helped her receive her first collegiate offer. Mylie continued that if athletes want to play at the next level; it is necessary to get their name out there.
It is a tremendous accomplishment to have a coach at the collegiate level reach out to an athlete. Indiana Tech sent Sipe an email with an official offer to play for them next fall. After several emails back and forth, Mylie eventually spoke to the assistant coach at Indiana Tech where she learned about how the coaches found her. The coach explained they discovered Mylie on a recruiting website where they watched her play and decided she would be a good fit for their program.
Mylie Sipe has been a large part of the girls’ basketball team as Lewis Cass. Head Coach Kyle Amor was asked about his time coaching Mylie and spoke high praise of Sipe and her career on his team. Amor was asked how he watched Sipe grow through the four seasons coaching her. He said she has grown much and in many ways. At the start of her sophomore season, Sipe was only able to play a few minutes at a time, but this year she hardly leaves the floor during a game. As well as her conditioning, Mylie’s ability to score has also improved greatly as she scored 98 points in the 23-24 season, but this season, Mylie was able to score 235 points. She also improved in rebounding as last season she was able to get 62 rebounds but increased to pulling down 111 rebounds this year.
Amor was also asked, aside from the team successes Mylie has been a part of, what are some personal successes he has seen her accomplish? Amor replied that Mylie has never been a “personal success type of player” and that her main objective for this season was for the team to win and be successful. Amor continued that Mylie was not going to let this team finish their season without another sectional title, and you could see her determination for this in her attitude. She showed this again, scoring 14 points in the semi-final game of the sectional with 12 of her points in the first half. Amor said Sipe knew she was not going to let the team down, and she did not.
Amor continued that his favorite coaching memory with Mylie included two that will stick with him. One was the game against Northfield High School during Sipe’s junior season. Amor said Sipe was “on fire” and hit five threes in the game. He said it was fun to see her shoot so well. The second memory was watching Mylie jump up and down after the team won the sectional championship this season. Amor said he could see the pure joy in her knowing she had worked so hard for that final moment.
Amor continued that Mylie is such a special person. She is a leader and has a servant’s heart that goes far beyond basketball. Mylie did things that were unable to be measured by statistics. She was a positive influence and leader taking the freshmen under her wing and teaching them how to become varsity basketball players. Those are the traits that programs are built with. Those freshmen will follow the examples Mylie set and lead similarly when they become seniors. Her servant’s heart will be passed on to another class. Amor ended by saying Mylie Sipe will be dearly missed.
Co-captains, juniors, Aftin Griffin and Kylie Logan had the following to add about their fellow captain and teammate. Logan said, “Playing with Mylie over the years has been a very fun experience. I love joking around with her, and I love her attitude even when we weren’t doing great, her head was always held high.” Griffin added, “Playing ball with Mylie just makes the game so much better. She is an amazing leader and brings the energy that every team needs. She is a great communicator and player on the court and a big part of our game,” said Aftin.
Playing at the college level is a challenge and Miss Mylie Sipe has worked hard to earn this accomplishment. Mylie is a leader, role-model, and works harder to encourage others. Indiana Tech is blessed and lucky to have Mylie Sipe on their roster next fall as she continues her basketball career playing for them. Good Luck in all your future endeavors, Mylie.
