Presley, Phillips hold joint ceremony on signing day

Kayla Presley and Faith Phillips’ careers weren’t parallel lines.

The seniors grew up together, making that perfect guard-post combo, as Phillips was just bigger than everyone and Presley had the guard-like abilities to get her friend the ball. The two hit a crossroads when Kayla’s mother, Denisha Presley, was hired as the principal of Kyle Lehman, forcing the pair to find their own lane in the sports they loved. 

They reunited in 2019 at San Marcos, creating one of the best duos in the state and ever since then, the lines have been parallel for the two. Both scored 1,000 points in the same week, both led San Marcos out of a five-year playoff drought, both were named McDonald’s All-American nominees and both celebrated their commitments to play at the college level on Thursday. 

Kayla had her own decision to make about where she would continue her athletic career. Schools reached out to her and she had it narrowed down to Mary Hardin-Baylor and Texas A&M International. Ultimately, it was the Dustdevils that influenced the point guard to attend their school. Location, team chemistry and familiarity were some of the recruiting points used to convince the senior to attend.

“Financially, it was just it was gonna be easier, and two, it was like as soon as we walked into the gym, the team was literally like my family,” Kayla said. “I related so much to each and every one of them and they were really nice and I just loved their campus as well. Oh my gosh, I fell in love with it. But that was really what sold me, was that family environment.”

Phillips’ decision to go to St. Mary’s came much earlier in the season, taking some pressure off of her during the season. In COVID times, games got rescheduled, practices got cancelled and signing ceremonies were postponed. Phillips suffered all three. The week of her ceremony, the San Marcos Lady Rattlers were placed in a 14-day quarantine, forcing Phillips to celebrate at home. Although she did sign her letter of intent on National Signing Day, her ceremony at the school had to wait. It worked out.

“I was really looking forward to signing with Kayla, so that's why I was waiting so long,” Phillips said. “And I just think, like you saw the pictures up there, from being this little to being this big, and we're still together and we got to do this big moment.”

Phillips leaves San Marcos with over 1,200 career points and 1,100 career rebounds. At St. Mary’s, her high school accolades will be in the past, but she has the chance to make present-day history at the forward position for the college. Her outside attack is the focus this offseason as she prepares for the next level. 

“My goal is to definitely get my ball handling better because I'm going to be on that perimeter,” Phillips said. “Just like here, that baseline attack is going to be my go-to. Shooting the 3-point shot — it got way more consistent from my freshman year to now — so just translating that into my game at St Mary's is the goal and then hopefully be able to get some good minutes my freshman year.”

Although Denisha Presley was along for their separation, her hiring at San Marcos is what intertwined the athletes story’s again after years apart. She’s been with them for the long-haul and with every tear that fell, a smile followed as she was mixed with emotion for the friends.

“The hardest part of this whole thing was going through all the pictures of watching them when they were two years old with Texas State CDC and watching them at Wonderland and then on playing with the Hawks and even at the activity center right here in San Marcos. So that's been just really cool to watch. Faith’s family and our family, we've just become basketball friends, and so I'm excited. I'm glad they were able to share this day together. I just think it just speaks to the journey that they both had together both as friends on and off the court.”

The DustDevils and Rattlers are getting two of the best players in San Marcos school history. As they play for separate teams again, Phillips and Presley remain two peas in a pod. Expect to see more of them at the college level, on and off the floor.