It was those two things that nearly ended the fruitful basketball career of Webster City senior Taylor McKinney.

“It scared me, 100 percent,” McKinney admits. “I tried going back to AAU last year at this time and I wasn’t happy. I looked at the game in a different way and I didn’t like that.”

In the end though, the pull of the game that has been such a big part of her life since she was old enough to walk was simply too strong. In other words, the game goes on.

After battling her own mental demons following the completion of her final prep basketball season in mid-February, McKinney made the decision last week to extend her career at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge. She signed with the Tritons on Friday.

Webster City senior Taylor McKinney scored 1,340 points during her Lynx basketball career. She’ll continue her career at Iowa Central Community College in the fall. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

McKinney will join a program in the fall that went 17-14 this past season under head coach Kelly Kruger, a 34-year veteran of the college hardwood. Iowa Central’s roster included four Iowa natives in 2019-20.

The prospect of joining an established program played an important role in McKinney’s decision, but she says the chance to continue competing so close to home made Iowa Central a logical fit.

“I’m a home body, so the biggest reason why I chose Iowa Central is because I want to stay close to home,” she said. “My grandparents, my parents, my family and my friends can all come watch me play. It’s a well-run program over there too, so I just knew that was the place I needed to go and continue my basketball career.”

McKinney will graduate from WCHS next month as the most decorated 5-on-5 girls basketball player in program history. Over the course of her four years in a varsity uniform, she set career records for points (1,340), field goals (469) and 3-point field goals (188). She also holds single-season school records for 3s (52) and free throw percentage (86), as well as single-game marks for points (40) and 3s (11).

McKinney scored at least 20 points on 25 occasions over her career and six times topped the 30-point threshold.

A four-time all-North Central Conference performer and three-time first-team member, McKinney averaged 17.6 points per game this past season, as she guided WCHS to a 9-12 record. She led the team in scoring each of the past four seasons.

Following the season, McKinney says she was able to take time away from the hardwood and it offered some quiet moments to earn needed perspective. She says she quickly realized that she still had a desire to play, a feeling that has only been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has kept her out of the gymnasium.

“Most of the time, if I’m stressed out about school, the gym is my place. That’s where I go and it calms me down,” she said. “Even right now, I want to get in the gym so bad.”

McKinney knows that college basketball will be a completely different animal. She might not be the first option on offense anymore and she might not have the green light to shoot whenever she wants, but she’s confident she’ll be able to adapt.

“The thing I have to work most on is my mental toughness,” she said. “Going into college, I’m not going to be that player that is going to start right away and there are going to be bumps in the road because it’s a whole other level of playing. But I’m excited for it.”

If things work out at Iowa Central, McKinney says she would love to transfer to a four-year institution to finish out her career. But first and foremost, she’ll concentrate on academics. Not surprisingly, she’d like to follow in the footsteps of her dad, Marty, who is an elementary education teacher at Sunset Heights and the head coach of the Lynx boys’ basketball program.

“Academics come first,” she said.