Former Lady Eagle punches second ticket to the big dance

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - Every athlete strives to win. For former Canyon Lady Eagle and current University of Nevada Las Vegas Lady Rebel Kenadee Winfrey, winning is something that she is used to.

During Winfrey’s four years at Canyon, they only dropped 14 games and won a state title during the 2020-21 season. If you know one thing about Lady Eagles basketball, fundamentals is always number one.

“I like to call it that old fashion basketball. We’d go through our fundamentals every single day, we were doing the ball handling the passing drills, the form shooting drills. If you know anything about Canyon and the (Joe and Tate) Lombards you know that that is going to be a part of the basketball and the programs that they run you through,” UNLV Lady Rebel Kenadee Winfrey said.

It was the little things that helped Winfrey prepare to play at the next level.

Winfrey says that it was the coaches that made her want to suit up in red and black for the Lady Rebels. UNLV Head Coach Lindy La Rocque and Assistant Coach Roman Owen told her that they want to win, and coming from a winning program like Canyon, that is all Winfrey wanted to do.

And winning is exactly what the UNLV women’s basketball program has done.

Coming off a Mountain West conference championship and advancing to the NCAA tournament last year, the Lady Rebels set their minds to do it again this season.

“We came out on top and that’s what we planned to do all season. The emotions were high. it was a good game, but going back-to-back champs is pretty awesome,” Winfrey said.

UNLV will play Michigan in the first round of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament on Friday at 12 p.m. in Baton Rouge. Winfrey’s family has already booked their flights.

Kenadee’s dad Todd Winfrey, who is also the head football coach at Canyon High School, is so proud of the hard work that she has put in to get to this point in her basketball career.

“You know as a parent you want to just go see your kid it doesn’t matter if their getting beat 100-0 or winning, but when you get to see your kid and you get to see them be successful or reap the benefits or hard work, it just, I don’t think there is any better feeling as a parent,” Todd Winfrey said.

“In our house we don’t say good luck, whenever we are doing something we say don’t suck, so my message would be Kenadee don’t suck. Go out there and be great, but don’t suck.”

Copyright 2023 KFDA. All rights reserved.