As a freshman, sophomore and junior, Kylee Paben quietly went about her day on the basketball court. The Millard West senior worked hard developing her game and conditioning her body while others received much of the attention.
That ship sunk, however, when Millard West won its second straight Class A state basketball title at Pinnacle Bank Arena last March. Paben stepped out of the shadows and into the spotlight in 2025-26.
"She's going to have to score a lot for us," Kruger said earlier this season. "The last couple of years, she was kind of like a wild card for us. Other kids got the attention. Then when Kylee went off, it was, 'Well, what are you going to do now?'"
Kruger always thought Paben had talent. Even at the junior high level she showed signs of a blossoming prep career. But her ability to make huge strides every year simply blew her coach away.
"I've been lucky to coach a lot of talented players. And there will be times when a kid takes a jump from maybe their junior year to their senior year," Kruger said. "But Kylee has literally taken a huge jump every year. I always thought she'd be good. But I didn't see this coming."
"She has grown, and she has become stronger and more athletic. It's a credit to her. She has put in the time and taken care of her body. She has worked at getting stronger and improving her skill and her ability to shoot it and score around the rim. She handled the ball a lot more and is much better at that."
The only senior on Millard West's roster, Paben's leadership and scoring ability went a long way in helping the Wildcats claim a spot in this weekend's Nebraska State Basketball Tournament for the fourth straight year.
Paben opened the season by scoring 30 points in wins over rival Millard North (63-52) and Omaha North (59-50). The future Minnesota Gopher scored a career-high 31 points in a 63-41 win over Papillion-LaVista in mid-February and is averaging 19.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, an assist, 2.4 steals and 1.5 blocks a contest.
For her career, Kruger's star player enters the state tournament with 1,153 points. Paben scored her 1,000th point during a 51-48 loss to 23-1 Bishop Heelan (Iowa) Jan. 23. She could reach 500 points for the year with an extended stay in the tournament.
The versatile Paben carries Class A's highest scoring average into Nebraska's version of March Madness.
Although she said earning Gatorade Player of the Year honors would be cool, Paben is simply working hard to keep Millard West's state tournament dominance chugging along.
"I'm just working on building the team up," Paben said a few weeks back. "We're a young team, so we're still learning to play together. We're just trying to do what we've done in past years."
With Neleigh and Norah Gessert moving onto Creighton and three other seniors graduating, Paben, Kruger and the rest of the Wildcat roster knew the challenges laid out before them. Instead of easing up on their goals, Millard West said we want more.
"It feels amazing to have built up the program, and the culture the way that it is now," Paben said. "Like our motto says, 'Earn It. Again.' Just really having that winning mentality of never stopping.
"I think we came in hungrier than we were knowing we were going to have to work harder to get that far this year. We're really motivated to do what we've done in past years."
Although the 2025 Second Team Class A All-State honoree is the only Wildcat averaging in double figures, Paben will have plenty of help as Kruger's club attempts to get him into his sixth state title game.
Kruger guided Bellevue West to runner-up finishes in 2013 and 2014 before taking over at Millard West in 2014-15.
"I've learned a lot from him," Paben said of Kruger who owns a 211-92 record with the Wildcats and a 264-97 career mark going into this week's action. "He's helped me learn to stay calm. He never gets too high or too low with his emotions. He's not a huge yeller and in those close games, he never gets too stressed out."
Counting Paben, six players score four or more points for the Wildcats. Sophomore MaKenna Rooney is averaging eight points while Londyn Whitney pours in 7.3 points a night. Freshman Grace Lucero-Minor, junior Kylee Millard and sophomore Sophia Miller combine for more than 15 points a contest.
Whitney adds 6.9 boards and 1.4 blocked shots a contest to her stat line while Rooney leads the team in assists with 3.5 a night and swipes a couple of steals on average.
Millard West opens the tournament against 22-5 No. 5 seed Omaha Westside Wednesday at 3:15 pm at PBA. Should the 20-4 Wildcats upend the Warriors, Millard West would face the winner between Lincoln North Star and Millard North Friday at 1:30 pm at PBA.
When asked about her favorite basketball memory to this point in her career, Paben's answer once again centered around the state basketball tournament.
"I don't think anything can beat winning state for the first time and second time honestly. When the buzzer goes off and everybody dog piles, emotions get running and it's really fun to do that with your team."
