Grace College senior Kaylee Patton cuts down the nets after her team won the National Christian College Athletic Association Tournament on March 23. Photo provided by Grace College athletics.

By Nathan Pace
InkFreeNews

A long basketball career for Kaylee Patton came to an end in March as the Lancer senior will be graduating soon. Patton, a Warsaw High School alumna, enjoyed the past four seasons at Grace College with her teammates at the Winona Lake campus.

“I’ve been able to play with two girls I grew up with actually, Maddie Ryman and Kensie Ryman. I’ve known them since I’ve been in kindergarten. It’s been really fun to play with them my entire basketball career,” Patton said. “I’ve just enjoyed making new friends here at Grace. Not just on the court but off the court.”

Patton’s basketball tenure with the Lancers concluded with three straight victories to win the National Christian College Athletic Association Tournament on Saturday, March 23. Patton had nine points, six assists and four rebounds in the title game against Carolina to help push Grace to a 65-51 win. It was the first national title in the history of the program.

“We’ve built a great program at Grace. Coach Dan Davis has been awesome. Our culture here is just awesome. It’s so fun to play with these girls. To get close with them off the court as well, I am going to have these relationships my entire life,” Patton said.

Last year, Grace made the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Tournament for the first time, and Patton served as a starter.

Coach Davis says Patton will leave big shoes to fill on the court and in the locker room after graduates.

“She’s got that quick wit. She’s always a joy to be around,” Davis said. “We sure are going to miss her next year. She was a major part of us making to the NAIA Tournament; first time in 47 year history and we won a game.”

Her recruitment out of Warsaw led her to Grace in part to a difficult injury her junior season. When Patton tore her ACL, all the schools stopped their recruitment except for Davis at Grace.

“Coach Davis was the only one who continued to talk to me and told me he wasn’t going to stop recruiting me no matter what,” Patton said. “Coach Davis plays a huge part in that. He’s a great person. He’s not just a great coach. He definitely shows how much he loves us. That’s pretty awesome to have a coach that verbalizes that. I don’t think that’s very common. Coach Davis is one of the reasons why I stayed close to home.”

While other schools backed away on recruiting Patton out of fear of more injuries, Patton ended up being virtually injury free while at Grace.

Her faith was another factor that made the Lancers more appealing as she attends Warsaw Community Church.

“I was a Christian before I came to Grace. That was also one of the main reasons I came to Grace. I had definitely grown in my faith here at Grace, just that being implemented into our culture here. I’ve learned so much about God and about myself as a Christian here at Grace. That’s been awesome and I’ve been able to implement that into my daily life,” Patton said.

With basketball over, Patton now hopes to enroll in another schools with aspirations to become a veterinarian. She is not sure if she will get into coaching basketball.

Patton reached over 1,000 career points with the Lancers is proud of the hard work she put in while with the team.

“It’s an ultimate sacrifice I would say,” Patton said on being a college athlete. “It’s definitely a sacrifice of your time, of your physical and mental health at times. It’s not for everybody. You don’t get free time very often. It’s been hard but it’s been worth it.”