Byrd Blazing Own Path: Kingwood Park standout coming into own in junior season
HOUSTON - It was about 20 minutes after a tweet had been sent out on the Kingwood Park girls basketball account congratulating Biva Byrd on a pair of recent career accomplishments when the junior's phone dinged.
It was a text from the all-time leader in Lady Panthers' history in points and rebounds congratulating her on the milestones - who, is also older sister and University of North Texas soccer standout Allie Byrd.
"She was very proud," Biva said about Allie's text. "She said 'I knew you would get to this point'. She's very supportive. I wasn't surprised, she's always telling me about my rights and wrongs in the game. She wants me to do good."
When Biva first arrived on campus at Kingwood Park, the natural comparisons to older sister were going to come with the territory. But as she plays in her junior season, averaging 15.9 points and 12.5 rebounds per game entering the Lady Panthers' ninth district bout of the season tonight, younger sister is now blazing her own path.
"My sister, she was amazing, but it feels good to have my own career and me being successful," Biva, who was a first-team, all-district pick a year ago, said.
A big step in that process came recently in wins over Dayton and Porter, where Biva surpassed the 1,000-career point and 1,000-career rebound marks for her career, putting her in the record books.
"It felt good," Biva said. "It felt like I accomplished a lot for this program."
Kingwood Park coach LeighAnn Wolfe added: "I'm super proud of her. She's put in a lot of hard work. She's humble about it and I'm glad this is happening for her this year. I know she's going to continue to work just as much to try and catch up with Allie."
| @KParkGBBall Junior @Bivabyrd11 recently passed 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds career marks. Averaging 15.9 ppg 12.5 rpg this season for Lady Panthers. @HumbleISD @HumbleISD_KPHS @HumbleISD_Ath pic.twitter.com/CINBS8s6PL
— Joshua Koch_VYPE (@jokoch09) January 20, 2022
After going 26-1 a year ago, falling to College Station in the third round, Wolfe said that final loss of her sophomore season stuck with Biva and has seen her grow from that.
"She came back, and you could see the determination in her eyes," Wolfe said. "She's matured, she's now a junior. She's been putting in the work and you can tell out on the court. I know each night she's going to bring it. She's super competitive and she hates to lose."
Outside of her growth in her game on the court, where Biva was one of the scoring leaders of the team last season, she has also grown in being a vocal leader - a job that was held by 2021 graduate Aliyah Bustamante, the Lady Panthers' point guard.
"Definitely my confidence has boosted," Biva said about this year compared to last. "I knew that this season I needed to be more of a leader by example for this team so we can win district and go farther [in the playoffs].
"Last year, Aliyah was more of the vocal leader, I barely talked. But this year I needed to be more spoken up."
