This student-athlete rises in the face of adversity to shoot clutch shots when it matters. Before graduating from Fairfax High School, she aided the girl’s basketball team to an Open Division City Section title.
Brown’s shot tied the Lion’s championship game against the Palisades Dolphins at 73 with seconds left in regulation. Brown gave Fairfax five minutes’ worth of a second chance after trailing for four quarters.
“I knew the team needed a big bucket and when I was younger, I [was] always making clutch shots,” Brown said. “I knew it was gonna go in, I work on shooting like every day.”
Brown made her time on the floor count, even when Palisades put Fairfax in a 19-point hole, as mentioned in the article “Fairfax Stuns Palisades in Open Division Title Match.”
“In the beginning, I was like, ‘what is going on’ because everybody was fumbling on both sides,” said Salli McDonald, Brown’s mother. “Kaylin didn’t get to start … but when she came in, she made an impact.”
The Lions finished the season with an overall record of 24-9 and went 10-2 in the Western League. Fairfax players respected her talent. Over the summer, Brown joined some of her Fairfax teammates to compete in the Nike 3on3 tournament. Their team name was called “LADY LIONS,” they won the championship of their bracket.
“I always love playing Nike 3on3,” Brown said. “Each game was a breeze, just the last two games were a little but tough, but we ended up pulling it out and we ended up winning the championship.”
Along with playing basketball, She also was the only girl in the ping-pong club at Fairfax.
With a 3.5 GPA, Brown was accepted to several universities, including Cal State Bakersfield, San Jose State, and Robert Morris University. However, Brown wanted to upgrade her talent on the hardwood with Coach Sherwyn Morgan at Los Angeles Trade Technical College.
“I’m excited every day at practice,” Brown said. “We have a great team, really good coaches that care about you and he’s really on me every day because he knows I could be a great player.”
Her high school career started at St. Bernard where she was under the tutelage of Michelle Greco, but the women’s basketball program ended. She then attended Leuzinger High School as a sophomore, playing for Bo Corono. At Leuzinger, Brown learned and acquired a passion for photography; she was also involved with the Black Student Union.
Her involvement in the Black Student Union echoes the strides of her uncle, the late John T. McDonald III, the former president of the NAACP, Los Angeles Branch.
Brown began playing basketball at the age of four. She would carry a ball with her when going to nursery school.
“I would bring my basketball with me everywhere and would dribble in the stores, and I would also sleep with my ball,” Brown stated. “God also gives me motivation to play every day. My mom also inspires me to play basketball by installing hard work and discipline.”
While growing up, Brown watched Diana Taurasi, Kobe Bryant, Candace Parker and other professional basketball players.
“She’s versatile, shoots the three, attacks the rim, blocks shots, smart player,” Brown said about Parker.
A future aspiration of Brown’s is to become a sports broadcaster and analyst; she plans to study broadcast journalism in college.
