Kyla McMakin is the SLU women’s basketball single season scoring leader. (Photo: Cedric Williams)
Kyla McMakin, who graduated as one of the top scorers in Saint Louis University women’s basketball history, has signed a professional contract with a team in the LF2 league in France.
McMakin will play for Saint Thomas Basket Le Havre in Le Havre, France. Le Havre begins its 2024-25 season in October.
McMakin concluded her five-year collegiate career with 2,899 points, ranking third among active NCAA Division I women’s basketball players at the end of the 2023-24 season.
She scored 1,268 points in her two years at SLU – including what was then a single-season school-record 602 in 2022-23 – to rank 14th on the Billikens’ career list and become just the third player in Division I women’s basketball history to score 1,000 or more points at two different institutions.
Additionally, McMakin’s 5,609 minutes played are more than any other player in Division I women’s basketball annals.
McMakin owns the SLU single-game record of 40 points set at VCU on Jan. 1, 2023. Her 16.9 scoring average and .807 mark at the free throw line as a Billiken rank third and fifth, respectively, all-time at Saint Louis.
A two-time selection to the Atlantic 10 All-Conference second team, McMakin was a part of two championship teams at SLU. She helped lead the Billikens to the A-10 Championship title and the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2023. Earlier this year, McMakin and her teammates captured the 2024 WNIT crown as Saint Louis became the first A-10 women’s basketball team to win a national tournament.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to play in France and would not have done it without my teammates and coaches at SLU,” McMakin said. “I learned so many things in the program that will help me continue to grow as a leader and player in my professional career. Thank you to my coaches, my teammates and everyone who supports SLU women’s basketball.”
“Kyla is one of the greatest player leaders I have ever coached,” head coach Rebecca Tillett said. “She consistently led with love, compassion, competitive fire, and the persistent expectation that each one of us could always reach a new level of excellence individually and collectively. I was fortunate to be on every step of the journey with her.
“Her next stop is Paris, and she has so many people rooting for her success,” Tillett said. “Not only is her team getting a special scorer, but more importantly, they are getting a woman who wills teams to championship heights.”