Wyomissing’s Amaya Stewart: From ‘terrible’ to terror in no time at all
Amaya Stewart admits she wasn’t the best basketball player around when she first started playing with Reading’s KTB youth organization as a fifth-grader.
That’s being kind, says her first KTB coach, Kanisha Edwards.
“She was terrible,” said Edwards. “She walked and double-dribbled all the time.”
That was five short years ago. The only thing terrible about Amaya Stewart now is trying to guard her.
In the low post the 6-1 Wyomissing sophomore has the footwork and knows how to use her size to score at ease. Up top on the high post she’ll knock down a jumper or use one of her well-honed spins moves to blow past a defender and get an open look at the rim.
Defense? She anchors the Spartans’ stingy zone, makes opponents think twice before attacking the basket and often swats away shots when they do.
She did all of the above over the past eight days as she scored 54 points and grabbed 37 rebounds in leading Wyomissing to three wins and its first Berks Girls League championship.
Stewart has become a dominant force in Berks basketball, and she’s only just scraping the surface. She pulled in the first of what could be many Division I offers earlier this season, from Temple, and paved the way for the first of what could be several league championships for the Spartans.
The team that blew past Reading High 46-28 Friday at Santander Arena has most of its key parts back next season: Junior Annie McCaffrey and sophomores Alexis Hardy and Audrey Hurleman. Lexi Loeb is the only senior among their top six scorers and one of just two in the rotation.
The core group has been playing together for several years and it shows in the way they pass and screen and in the way they communicate on defense.
“Many teams forget about team chemistry, on and off the court,” said Stewart. “That’s what you need to have. That’s what really brings you together.”
The Spartans, who continue their playoff journey Friday with a District 3 opener at home, have that. They’re 23-2 and take a seven-game winning streak into their Class 4A quarterfinal against sixth-seeded Middletown.
Stewart, who averages a team-best 15.3 points, third-highest in the league, is the focal point of the Spartans on both offense and defense but plays well within coach Aaron Anders’ system. She knows how to work with her teammates, whether it’s taking a pass down low or dishing off to a cutter.
“When I first came here on Tuesday (for the semifinals), I was so nervous – so nervous and so excited,” she said after scoring a game-high 18 points and grabbing 15 rebounds in the championship. “But now that I finally got here, and I’m here with my teammates, it just feels so amazing that I could do this with them by my side.
“There’s no better experience than to be here with them. I’m so glad we just made history for our school.”
Stewart was tall but raw when she first started playing organized ball with KTB. She wanted to get better and was willing to work at it. That’s one thing all of her coaches say.
“She hustles,” said Edwards, a former player and coach at Reading High. “That’s one thing she always had. Even if she didn’t know what she was doing, that girl could hustle.
“She’s one of the hardest-working people I know. When she put her mind to it, she started working out, going to the park by herself, calling me to work out.”
Anders first saw Stewart play as a sixth-grader and noticed how well she ran the court and caught the ball, in addition to her size. Stewart made big strides and by junior high became the next “gotta watch” girls player in Berks.
“Going into eighth grade she started to show the signs (of dominance),” Edwards said, “and from there everybody thought: ‘Where’d this girl come from?’ She’s been here all along.
“She really came out of her shell that eighth grade year. Coming into her freshman year she really opened some eyes.”
Stewart scored 19 points in her second varsity game. She hit 20 twice later in the season and ended up on the all-division team after averaging a team-best 10.5 points.
She’s taken her game up a level or two this season. She has developed an array of post moves, she’s shooting drastically better at the foul line and she’s added range to her game. She’s not afraid to put the ball or the floor or put it up from behind the 3-point line.
Her growth, Anders said, has been “tremendous.”
“Her ceiling is through the roof,” he said.
She’s certainly not afraid of the spotlight, or big challenges. She proved that this week in two dominant performances at Santander Arena.
She’s got the mental side of it down, too. In the championship game she faced several former KTB teammates who now play for Reading high, such as Yamilex Rodriguez and Laysha Pimentel.
It was all business.
“They’re all my family, and I love them so much,” she said of the Red Knights. “We’re best friends off the court but on the court we’re serious and we take this to a different level. We’re here to compete and dominate.”
