MSUB SPORTS – Tears equally spurred by frustration and determination began to well in Rylee Kane's eyes as her arms trembled in supporting the entirety of her body weight.
 
Her firm grip on the metal playground pull-up bar never wavered however, even when the task of nudging her chin above her hands two more times felt impossible.
 
"I challenged her that if she could do 10 pull-ups then we would go get ice cream afterwards," her father Troy Kane recalled. "She got to eight and started crying, but she was just determined to finish. You could tell at a young age that she was a competitor."
 
Sure enough, the 7-year-old Rylee willed her way to finish the daunting task. Troy knew that day that his daughter had something special inside of her; a rare, inherent ability to defy adversity and push her limits.
 

What Troy never could have predicted was that his daughter would grow into one of the greatest point guards in the history of Montana State University Billings women's basketball.
 
Thursday night's stop along a career defined by consistency, toughness, and perseverance, will mark Kane's 109th start, when the Yellowjackets host Great Northwest Athletic Conference foe Saint Martin's University. The Red Lodge, Mont., native will move to No. 6 among the all-time conference leaders in career starts, and with 10 games left guaranteed on the Yellowjackets' schedule she figures to wind up third in GNAC history in the category when all is said and done.
 
It's a feat rarely achieved as only 20 players in GNAC history have reached 100 career starts. It's one that is based on full trust from the head coach, as it requires the reigns of a team to be handed to a freshman who is tasked with mastering her squad over the next four seasons.
 
What stands out most about Kane's career is that she has never once missed a start. Her 108 games started in succession marks the second-longest streak in GNAC history, and only four players total have recorded a streak of 100 or more consecutive starts.
 
There have been bumps and bruises along the way, a wrapped right arm and a nearly swollen shut black eye among the scares that threatened to hold her out of the starting lineup. If her persistence on the playground pull-up bar was any indicator of how her basketball career would take shape however, it comes without surprise that nothing has stopped her. Kane is one of just two players in the history of the GNAC to have started 100 percent of her team's games during a four-year career. The Yellowjackets would need a run of eight postseason games for Kane to have a chance to tie the all-time record of 126 consecutive starts, held by Rebecca Kielpinski of the University of Alaska Anchorage, who is the only other four-year GNAC player to start 100 percent of her team's games.
 
Most Consecutive Starts, GNAC Women's Basketball History (as of Jan. 24, 2018)

Player	School	Years	Starts	Team Games	Pct.	Consecutive Starts	Streak Duration
Rebecca Kielpinski	UAA	2005-09	126	126	100%	126	11-16-05 to 3-25-09*
Rylee Kane	MSUB	2014-18	108	108	100%	108	11-14-14 to Current
Nicole Lynch	HSU	2001-05	103	107	96%	103	11-16-01 to 3-5-05*
Megan Hingston	NNU	2010-14	105	110	95%	101	12-18-10 to 3-1-14*
Erin Chambers	SFU	2011-15	113	117	97%	99	2-2-12 to 3-6-15*
Jamey Gelhar	SMU	2006-10	101	110	92%	99	1-4-04 to 3-6-10*
Bobbi Knudsen	MSUB	2010-14	107	118	91%	92	2-28-11 to 3-17-14*

 *-Indicates streak was intact when career ended.
 
GNAC Women's Basketball Career Starts Leaders (as of Jan. 24, 2018)

Rank	Name	School	Starts	Seasons
1	Kiki Robertson	Alaska Anchorage	128	2013-17
2	Rebecca Kielpinski	Alaska Anchorage	126	2005-09
3	Kayleen Goggins	MSU Billings	116	2011-15
4	Erin Chambers	Simon Fraser	113	2011-15
5	Janiel Olson	MSU Billings	111	2011-13, 15-16
6	Lorrie Clifford	Western Oregon	109	2009-13
7	Danielle Dwello	Northwest Nazarene	108	2003-07
	Rylee Kane	MSU Billings	108	2014-18
9	Bobbi Knudsen	MSU Billings	107	2010-14
10	Heidi Arts	Alaska	106	1999-2003

"Not unless our athletic trainer told me she was hurt too badly to start," commented MSUB head coach Kevin Woodin when asked if he recalled a time Kane's status was in question. "Rylee was never going to tell me that she was too hurt to play."
 
Fortuitous timing has also played a role in Kane's remarkable duration as the play caller for the 'Jackets. Where the career of MSUB legend Bobbi Knudsen came to an end, the opportunity arose for the start of Kane's own ode to the school record books. A further look back at Kane's athletic development reveals her path to the Yellowjackets' doorstep.
 
A STARTER FROM THE BEGINNING 
Kane grew up in an active family, whether she was hitting the friendly ski slopes in her hometown or tagging along to play football with her older brother Conner. "The boys weren't going to play dolls with me, so I was never into the girly stuff," Kane said. "They were always playing sports, and I liked playing with them a lot. That's how I bonded with my family."
 
Kane, who stands 5-foot-6, was a post on the basketball court until she stopped growing in sixth grade and took over as her team's point guard. Her father helped out as a volunteer coach on her traveling basketball team, and he began to witness the development of key traits that suggested she had a future in the sport. "In seventh grade a girl came to block her layup, and she did a double-pump to get the shot off and she made it," Troy said. "You don't see that kind of agility every day, and I knew that with her ball handling ability she had a chance to do something special in the basketball sphere."
 
Then-Red Lodge High School head coach Cathy McGregor received a tip from her assistant coach Cadance Eaton about a player rising through the ranks who figured to challenge for a spot on the varsity team. "Rylee got thrown into a leadership role early on in high school, just like she did at MSUB," said McGregor. "She saw the court so well, and just had things that you can't teach like the ability to see open players."
 
Before long Kane was pulled up to play straight varsity for the Rams as a high-school freshman, and she also competed in volleyball and golf all four years of her prep career. "I loved basketball, but I didn't like the idea of thinking into the future too much," Kane said. "Coach McGregor sat me down probably my junior year and asked me what I wanted to do after high school, and that's when I started thinking about playing in college."
 
While Kane was on her way to earning Montana 4B all-state honors during her senior season, MSUB head coach Kevin Woodin was leading his Yellowjackets on their deepest run into the NCAA playoffs since the 1998-99 Elite Eight squad. At the forefront of MSUB's trek to the NCAA west region title game in 2014 was the irreplaceable Knudsen, a three-time all-American who finished her career No. 1 in GNAC history in both scoring and assists.
 
Woodin knew filling Knudsen's void was one of the biggest tasks he had ever faced as a head coach. He needed to find a player with equal grit and a warrior-like mentality that he could help mold into a leader.
 
He needed to find Rylee Kane.
 
CHANGING OF THE GUARD
"There were no guarantees, but I liked Rylee's skillset. I don't think she was necessarily ready to start, but she won the position and I decided to pull the trigger. From Day 1 she was a competitor. She has continued to improve, so the position became hers over time." – MSUB head coach Kevin Woodin on Kane earning the starting point guard position.
 
Kane had heard of Knudsen's storied achievements and the overwhelming success of the MSUB teams that surrounded her. During Kane's senior season, the Red Lodge girls basketball team was even in attendance when Knudsen and the 'Jackets cut down the nets at Alterowitz Gym after claiming the 2014-15 regular-season GNAC title. "After that game I followed the MSUB team a little bit more, but I didn't know a ton about it at the time," Kane said. "I remember Kevin mentioning Bobbi when he talked to me, but it didn't really hit me until I got here."
 
While he admits struggling at first to avoid comparing the freshman Kane to Knudsen, Woodin commented that it wound up being a period of growth as a coach. "I may have been too hard on Rylee early in her career, but as we started to communicate better I realized I needed to evaluate Rylee against Rylee," Woodin said. "Being thrust into the point guard position, you are expected to be a leader and to make calls on your own. That was hard for her, but she took on a trial-by-fire mentality and I think that helped."
 
On Friday, Nov. 14, 2014 Kane was introduced among the Yellowjacket starters for the first time, her nerves admittedly running out of control. "It was so overwhelming," she commented on the team's opening game of her freshman season at Colorado State University Pueblo.
 
Kane scored 10 points in her first-ever collegiate game, and though the 'Jackets lost 79-69 she began learning immediately what it was going to take to compete at the collegiate level. Among the players surrounding Kane were the likes of experienced upperclassmen Kayleen Goggins, Quinn Peoples, and Annie DePuydt, who were returning seniors from the previous year's run to the regional title game. The year proved to be one filled with adversity, as the 'Jackets went 14-14 overall and failed to qualify for the GNAC Championships with a league record of 6-12.
 
"On the court it was a rough year, but all of those seniors did a great job taking everyone under their wing," Kane said. "I had never felt so welcomed so quickly before, and that really helped me transition."
 
Kane had 90 assists while starting all 28 games that season, and when she arrived at preseason workouts as a sophomore in 2015 any questions Woodin had about Kane's future running the offense were pushed aside. "By her sophomore season I could tell that she had put in the time needed in the offseason to take the next step," Woodin said. "There has never been a doubt since then that she was going to lead this team through her senior year. I had a feeling we were going to get better every year, and a lot of us getting better was going to be because of her."
 
Not only did the 'Jackets improve during Kane's sophomore year, they streaked to a second-place finish at the GNAC Championships and made a return to the NCAA regional championships.

 
One of MSUB's key wins to reach the conference tournament that year came in the form of a 74-55 triumph at Northwest Nazarene the week before the championships. Kane got tangled up in a scrum for the ball, and had to be immediately removed from the action after having her face smashed into the hardwood at Johnson Sports Center.
 
The 'Jackets emerged with the Thursday evening victory, but Kane emerged with a gash above her left eye and a bruise that prevented normal vision the following day. "We went into halftime of that game and (assistant coach) Jenny (Heringer) challenged us to do something to prove we were trying our hardest," Kane remembered. "I dove after a loose ball and the other girl basically sat on my head. I thought I had broken my nose."
 
 It took constant icing, a trip to the emergency room for stitches, and adhesive strips to secure Kane's eyelid to keep it open, but she and MSUB athletic trainer Lindsay Sullivan found a way to have her game-ready by tipoff at Central Washington two nights later. 

"Lindsay has been a huge key to everything, and it still amazes me that I've been able to start every game," Kane said. "I've had all kinds of weird minor injuries, but she has been a big help in keeping me healthy enough to play."
 

AN ASSIST OR 500
"Rylee Kane exemplifies what Division II is all about. She comes from a small school in Montana, and she has blossomed as a player and a person at MSU Billings on and off the court. She has gotten better every semester she has been here, and that is really hard to do. I would want Rylee to be my point guard anywhere, anytime." – Kevin Woodin on senior point guard Rylee Kane.
 
The black eye remains as the closest Kane came to missing a start, and by the end of her sophomore season she began to feel fully comfortable as a dynamic collegiate guard. As a junior in 2016-17, Kane earned honorable mention all-GNAC honors, standing out to the conference's coaches as one of the top-two point guards in the league.
 
Statistically, Kane's improvement showed in the form of a career-high 150 assists during her junior season along with a scoring average of 11.4 points per game. Perhaps her biggest point of pride however is her defensive development from where she started as a freshman. "Part of the reason I struggled my freshman year was that I felt like I didn't know anything defensively," Kane said. "Now defense is one of the things I am most proud of, and Jenny had to work that out of me. She helped teach me what it meant to go 100 percent all of the time."
 
Kane's 165 career steals are the ninth most in MSUB history, and despite her diminutive stature she has amassed 41 blocked shots. Kane's defensive expertise and presence are key components to her makeup as an all-around player, but it is what she has done with the ball in her hand that etches her name into the elite category.
 
Entering Thursday's game, Kane is No. 3 in MSUB history and No. 8 in GNAC history with 485 assists. Her career high of 13 assists came on Feb. 23, 2017 against Central Washington, and stands as the MSUB single-game record. She has a current streak of at least one assist in each of her last 86 games, and she has had zero assists only three times in her 108 total career games.
 
MSUB Women's Basketball Career Assists Leaders (as of Jan. 24, 2018)

Rank	Name	Assists	Seasons
1	Amy Winslow	589	1996-99
2	Bobbi Knudsen	532	2011-14
3	Rylee Kane	485	2014-18
4	Shantell Marquis	472	2006-11
5	Tera Silvius	448	1992-95
6	Shiloh Schwab	399	1994-98
7	Megan Mason-Dickerson	355	1995-98
8	Jenny Langofrd	291	2003-06
9	Jetton Meadors	282	2006-09
10	Evonne Goroski	272	1985-88

Among the 18 teammates Kane has had who averaged more than 4.0 minutes per game during her career, Kane has had at least one assist to 17 of them.

 
Her most consistent target along the way has been fellow senior Alisha Breen, who has converted a bucket 88 times on a dish from Kane. "We read off each other really well, and it's hard to find someone that you're as comfortable with on the court as you are with her," Kane commented on Breen. "We have kept a really good relationship, and this season feels a lot like the (regional run) sophomore season."
 
The connection between Kane and Breen has come naturally, and thanks to each of them averaging more than 31 minutes per game over the last four years. Breen is No. 6 in GNAC history with 3,522 minutes played, while Kane is No. 8 at 3,363.
 



GNAC Women's Basketball Career Minutes Player Leaders (as of Jan. 24, 2018)

Rank	Name	School	Minutes	Seasons
1	Bobbi Knudsen	MSU Billings	3838	2010-14
2	Erin Chambers	Simon Fraser	3752	2011-15
3	Rebecca Kielpinski	Alaska Anchorage	3751	2005-09
4	Jasmin Edwards	Central Washington	3717	2014-18
5	Taylor Peacocke	Western Washington	3566	2013-17
6	Alisha Breen	MSU Billings	3522	2013-15, 17-18
7	Ellen Kett	Simon Fraser	3477	2013-17
8	Rylee Kane	MSU Billings	3363	2014-18
9	Sara Zahler	Western Oregon	3306	2007-11
10	Janiel Olson	MSU Billings	3303	2011-13, 15-16

 

CAPTAIN KANE
"We are just extremely proud of her. We are grateful she got to play her entire college career at a place she wanted to be at, with kids she has strong friendships with. MSUB was a perfect fit and we are really lucky. It has been a great experience." – Troy Kane on his daughter extending his family's attendance at MSUB to a third generation.
 
It would have been unfair to draw comparison to Knudsen when Kane began her tenure as floor general for the 'Jackets. It would have been unfair or perhaps even unrealistic to project her status among all-time Yellowjacket and GNAC greats, even after starting every game as a true freshman.
 
Kane has turned those once-unqualified comparisons into a reality.
 
"Usually we try to get three-plus years out of somebody at the point, and our system develops best when we have someone who leads it for multiple years," said Woodin.
 
As Kane's career continues over the next two months, she will be leaving the program and the point guard position in particular in good hands. Each year Woodin assigns a mentor to all of the incoming players, and Kane's assignment this season was freshman point guard Hannah Collins of Great Falls, Mont. "It has been really neat to see it come full circle," Woodin commented on Kane teaching the ropes to Collins. "It seems like yesterday that Rylee was receiving the mentoring, and now she is the mentor. She and Hannah have a great relationship, and that is really cool to see as a coach."
 
Kane is determined to lead the 'Jackets on one more postseason run before her time in the navy and gold comes to a close. In the process, she'll bestow what she has learned about mental toughness and how to fearlessly approach any obstacle on Collins and the rest of her teammates. In some ways, it wound up being the most basic lessons Kane learned as a child that were most influential in shaping her legacy as a Yellowjacket great.
 
Her old high school coach McGregor spoke of a look that undoubtedly emanated from Kane on that fateful day at the playground with her father. "She would give you this look sometimes that you'll never forget," McGregor said. "It was a look that didn't mean she was in agreement, but she would listen to you anyway. She would just go out and make it happen."
 
No matter the adversity that has been flung into her path, Kane has always found a way to pull herself up time and time again, and make it happen.