By Jonathan Turner, Hola America
Athletic talent runs deep in the Peña family, and Kaylie Peña is carrying that legacy forward.
The 20-year-old Black Hawk College sophomore and United Township graduate is excelling both on the basketball court and the softball diamond — proving that dedication, family influence, and passion for the game can shape a remarkable student-athlete.
The driven 5’4” guard topped the nation this season for the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II in three-pointers made, with 108, making 37.4% of attempts, averaging 18.9 points per game.
Peña scored 890 points during her high school career, including 194 three-pointers, both school records. She did that with a shortened freshman season, because of COVID. Her highest single-game score was 27 during senior year, when she made seven 3-pointers.
“As the years went on, I progressively have gotten better at shooting because I started making it more serious, since I realized how good of a shooter I was,” she said recently. At BHC, she’s already made 208 threes in two years, and plays third base for the softball team (basketball season runs November through February, and softball March through May).
“Kaylie has been an inspiring student-athlete to coach because her growth has been so genuine and hard-earned,” said Logan Frye, head women’s basketball coach. “From her initial recruitment to now, she has developed tremendously as a student in the classroom, a player on the court, and most importantly as a young woman.
“What makes Kaylie special is her resilience,” the coach said. “She has faced adversity and moments of failure along the way, but instead of being discouraged and giving up, she has used those experiences as motivation to improve. That mindset has fueled her development and helped her grow into the confident, impactful student-athlete we see today.
“It’s been incredibly joyful to be a part of her journey and see how far she’s come. Her success is a reflection of her commitment to growth on the court and beyond,” he said.
“But I don’t even shoot at the line. I shoot farther back. I shoot deep threes,” Peña said (the college 3-point line is 22 feet, 1.75 inches). This season, she made 37 points one game last November before she broke a finger on her left hand, and had to miss eight games.
“It really surprised me when I got first in the nation for threes because I missed eight games and everybody else had eight games over me,” Peña said.
“Breaking the program’s career record for 3-pointers under those circumstances, especially with that kind of mid-season adversity, is a prime example of her owning her craft and dedication to success,” Frye said.
Kaylie has sports in her blood, since her great-grandfather, Alvino Peña, started the Davenport Boxing Club in 1968 and was later inducted into the National Golden Gloves Boxing Coaches Hall of Fame. Her father, Nile, runs a boxing gym in Moline.
“I am very proud of my daughter. Her success comes obviously from her God-given natural ability but she has also worked very hard and has been blessed to have some outstanding coaches and teammates along the way who instilled the values of being a good teammate and the importance of hard work and preparation,” he said, noting Kaylie started both basketball and softball at age 3.
She juggled both sports at UT. “I actually missed some of softball while my season was going on. But as soon as basketball would end, the next day I was going with softball,” Peña said.
UT won basketball regional championships her junior and senior years. Her best record was 26-6 her senior year.
“I’ve played both of them my whole life. And actually after high school, I was going to give up on softball and just go for basketball,” Peña said. “But over the summer, the coach had reached out to me for softball and wanted me to play, and I was like, I can’t give it up because I’m too good. So two more years of being able to play both is great.”
“I really like third base because my arm is really strong,” she said, noting she throws right and bats left, averaging getting to first in 2.8 seconds.
Her freshman year at Black Hawk, Peña’s batting average was .457, she made All-Conference, and the team made the national tournament in Oxford, Alabama. The same year, both teams won Arrowhead Conference, with the basketball team finishing 23-9.
Peña plans to attend Augustana next fall, and has friends on the basketball team there she’s known for years.
She hopes to become a gym teacher and basketball coach, like her coach at UT. Her favorite player is Steph Curry of Golden State, who holds the NBA record for all-time 3-pointers.
“Because he’s just like me. He likes to pull up from anywhere with a person in his face,” Peña said. “I love watching him because I’ve actually watched videos of him doing drill form, shooting and handling.”
“No matter how far I am away from the three-point arc, I’m gonna let it fly,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s in my arms that are strong. I know it’s not my legs, but as much space as I get, I’m going to let it it go.”
“Whenever something good happens, the whole team lights up and everyone is coming complimenting each other and everyone’s always picking each other up. And the biggest thing for me is my coach,” Peña said of Frye. “I would hit a three and he would look at me like, that’s you. Like you got it, that’s you. Good job. He would be so hard on me and he got me to where I needed to be today. Without him, I don’t think that I would be this good.”
She also credited her dad for helping her.
“Make me fierce, kind of that boxer mentality. Like, I’m taking you down,” Peña said. “That’s where I got my mentality from with my dad.”
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