Wyomissing’s Amaya Stewart has grown to love basketball — and it’s loving her back
By Sean McBryan — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
Amaya Stewart burst onto the Berks girls basketball scene last season, leading Wyomissing in scoring as a freshman.
The 6-1 center again leads the Spartans in scoring after dedicatedly improving her game in the offseason to become more than a traditional post player.
The culmination of that work and her innate skill resulted in her first college offer, from Temple, which she announced on Twitter:
“It was a relief,” Stewart said of picking up her first Division I offer. “It was like all of the hard work was paying off and somebody was watching.”
Stewart’s height made becoming a Division I basketball prospect a natural, but don’t call her an old-school big. Her potential growth in other areas, such as ballhandling, shooting, and running the floor rather than solely having her back to the basket is what will continue to entice college coaches.
Stewart has been in the gym expanding on her God-given talent since first picking up a basketball in the third grade. Because of her height and early success she was drawn to the game.
“My family is big on basketball, so since the third grade I was involved,” she said. “After fifth grade I learned to love it.”
Her passion for the game made it a year-round commitment traveling around the country with AAU teams, working with trainers, and playing in the traditional school season. Stewart just kept getting better.
“In fifth grade I was a little bit bigger (than everyone else) and my AAU coach would always push me,” Stewart said. “I realized this is what I want to do. I was really getting good at it.”
Wyomissing third-year head coach Aaron Anders, a former All-Berks player at Antietam and captain on Alvernia’s Final Four team in 1997, first saw Stewart when she was a sixth-grader.
“She was running up and down the floor, but she caught everything that came by her,” he said. “That’s the thing that I noticed. Then in eighth grade she really started to turn people’s heads.”
Stewart began working with Alex Bernhard, a basketball trainer at New Age Hoops in Reading who played at Brandywine Heights and Centenary College.
Stewart suits up for Philly Rise in Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL), one of the top AAU circuits in the country. Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, and Russell Westbrook each sponsor teams. Over 60 former EYBL players have played in the NBA. New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu won an EYBL championship in 2015.
It was only recently that Stewart realized basketball could be her future.
“When I was going to tournaments and seeing all these Division I coaches (it hit me),” she said. “They weren’t there for me; they were there for my teammates. I thought: “That could be me, too. Why couldn’t it be me?’ “
Anders has witnessed the improvement in Stewart’s game firsthand over the eight years he’s been coaching in the Wyomissing program.
“She has continued to work,” Anders said. “Last year people would see her play and say she’s going to be a fantastic old-school big girl. No, she can handle the ball. She can shoot. She is working on her body to be an absolute dominant player. Her growth over the summer has been tremendous. Her ceiling is through the roof.
“She works hard. She is extremely humble. She just loves to play. She is a sponge for this game. It’s an exciting thing for a coach because when you have that much talent a lot of times you have to (push) that work ethic. You don’t have to worry about that with her.”
Stewart’s immediate goal is to experience a bond that comes with a winning team.
“I’m really trying to get my point average up, but I don’t want it to be all about me,” said Stewart, who’s averaging a team-best 15.8 points. “I want my team to be as one. We can look to me (to score) but I want my teammates to drive, do whatever it takes to come together.”
The Spartans were confident coming into the season; they appeared in the Berks and District 3 playoffs last year and returned every starter plus a bunch of key pieces off the bench.
It’s no surprise Wyomissing is the last undefeated team in Berks at 5-0. It’s averaging 58 points and allowing under 25. This certainly isn’t a one-girl show.
Seniors Lexi Loeb, Maddie Campbell, Julia Reber and Kaitlyn Brunner were sophomores on the team that went to the county championship in 2021; that was the first time Wyomissing had been in the county final since 2001.
Lexi Hardy, Audrey Hurleman, Lili Marshall and Bailey Loeb are part of a heralded sophomore class, along with Stewart.
“We want to go as far as possible,” Stewart said. “I was talking to the seniors and they really want to win counties; this is their year. I want it for them.”
