AUSTIN, Texas — Texas guard Shaylee Gonzales will do anything it takes to win.
Whether its scoring over 2,000 points in her career or stepping in as point guard when injuries arise, Gonzales just wants to be great. That passion has burned in her since her youth.
Gonzales' parents put her in a recreational basketball league at 5 years old, but that wasn't enough for the young hooper.
"She started telling us she wanted more than just rec ball," Candice Gonzales, Shaylee Gonzales' mother, said. "So we put her on a little club team that was just a month long."
After a month, that itch for competition still wasn't satisfied. So Shaylee Gonzales continued to play ball through the summer – to a point where it became everything she knew.
By sixth grade, she was already competing on a high school level club team that was coached by her mom.
"Mom-slash-coach is tying her shorts up because she's just a little girl still, right?" Josh Gonzales, Shaylee Gonzales' father, said with a laugh. "She goes out there, and she's scoring 15 to 20 points as a little sixth grader, with high school girls."
Shaylee Gonzales believes playing against older and tougher competition was a great foundation for her young career.
"I definitely feel like that has helped me grow into the person I am today," she said. "Just always growing and getting better."
By the time she got to high school, it was clear: she was different. She started all four years on the varsity team, eventually becoming Arizona's 2017 Girls Basketball Gatorade Player of the Year.
That high school success landed her a scholarship at Brigham Young University, where she broke nearly every record for the school. Then she wanted another challenge.
"I probably would've never thought that I would be here today," Shaylee Gonzales said with a smile.
Now playing in burnt orange, Gonzales has become a pivotal piece in Head Coach Vic Schaefer's lineup. In her first year on campus, Gonzales was named Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and All-Big 12 Second Team. Now in 2024, she's hoping to help lead the Longhorns to a national championship.
Then she wants to conquer her next challenge
"I didn't do all this for nothing and [I'm] just getting started. I want to get to the next level and be super successful and do what I've always loved," she said.
That love for basketball continues to bounce in her favor.