Hill-Murray basketball standouts and sisters Mya and Ashlee Wilson look to lead program back to state tournament

Inside Hill-Murray’s locker room, Mya and Ashlee Wilson tried to remember when they realized being teammates clicked, just as they’d hoped it would.

“I feel like it was the Lakeville South game,” Ashlee said, poking her older sister with her foot. “Do you agree?”

“It was a super good game,” said Mya, despite the 61-60 loss. “We played really well together.”

Mya said their parents “didn’t know how it was going to be” with two ultra-competitive sisters meshing. The sisters hadn’t played on the same team until this winter. They were always split up by age group in AAU basketball.

“I mean, it should go well,” said Mya, who has offers from such Division I programs as Minnesota, Ohio State, Iowa, Florida and Virginia Tech. “But we didn’t know.”

Safe to say, there wasn’t much to worry about.

Mya, a 6-1 combo guard and the No. 1 ranked recruit in Minnesota’s sophomore class, was being paired with seventh-grade sister Ashlee, a 5-10 combo guard who is already a top 2030 prospect.

Hill-Murray Pioneers, rejoice.

Through 19 games, Mya is averaging 22 points per game and Ashlee 13.4 per game for a young Pioneers team that’s 14-5, with only one loss in their last ten games.

Hill-Murray has finished as state runner-up three times — most recently in 2011 — and the Wilsons are hoping to help their team return to the Class 3A tournament for the third time since 2013.

“At practice, we’ll be guarding each other, but we’re not supposed to be going 100 percent,” Mya said. “And we’ll still be going 100 percent.”

During games, what the sisters share keeps them in sync.

As the youngest of four siblings, Mya and Ashlee used to compete one-on-one in their driveway, and in games of P-I-G, in which they have to copy each other’s shot, they would lower or raise the rim to dunk.

The Wilsons come from a family of athletes. Their dad played football and their mom played volleyball at Winona State. Their older brother, Jacob, will golf at South Dakota State next year. Their oldest sister, Ava, is a runner. When Mya and Ashlee tried golf, that turned into a competition, too.

The sisters started playing on the North Tartan AAU teams before switching to compete for Caitlin Clark’s old basketball team, All Iowa Attack. There, many of Minnesota’s top girls basketball players spend summer weekends sharpening their skills in rapid-paced, high-volume practices.

As a freshman at Hill-Murray, Mya averaged 19.7 points per game. Last April, she broke a bone in her foot that sidelined her for three months, including Nike Nationals, but was ready for her sophomore season with the Pioneers.

Ashlee was brought onto varsity this season, 13 years old but too good for most middle school opposition and “as good as anybody,” head coach Erin Herman said.

“Coming in, I wanted to make an impact and make the team better,” Ashlee said.

As her sister, Mya can be candid with Ashlee. She told Ashlee she needed to score in double digits if the Pioneers were to win.

“I pushed her so that she would make that impact,” Mya said. “And she definitely has.”

Ashlee is a shooter but is also capable of driving to the basket and playing solid defense. Mya is a physical, strong rebounder who looks to get her teammates involved.

“Over the years, I’ve had sets of sisters who just get after each other, yell at each other,” Herman said. “But [Mya and Ashlee] really support each other. They want each other to do well.”

Ashlee is extroverted. Mya takes longer to warm up to others. A common trait, though, is “they’re both really driven,” Herman said. “They want to improve.”

Daily rides to school together have helped. The sisters no longer fight over the auxiliary cord when Mya drives them to practice, leaving the music choices to Ashlee in the passenger seat.

“We have good chemistry because we’re with each other all the time,” Mya said. “That even makes a difference on the court.”

During her 600-win coaching career, Herman has seen the way being a highly touted recruit can eat at players. Top players are fouled more often, are sometimes scrutinized on social media and are at the mercy of ever-changing online rankings, she said.

“Let them be kids. Let them play,” she said. “But that’s the world we live in now, so you’ve got to develop that thick skin.”

Ashlee has tagged along to a few college visits with Mya, a likely glimpse into her own future. Mya reminds Ashlee to try to have fun.

“You don’t want to lose the love for the game over a single high school season or AAU season,” Mya said.

Added Ashlee, who also plays soccer and golf for Hill-Murray: “She’s such a role model to me. If she does a cool move, I want to try it.”

There’s no ticking clock for the Wilsons, at least not right now. They still have two full seasons left to play together with the Pioneers.

The Hill-Murray career scoring record, set in 2012 by Tessa Cichy, is 2,366 points. Cichy also has the rebounding record at 1,001. Maya finished her first season with the Pioneers with 1,081 points and 558 boards.

“Mya will probably break [those records],” Herman said. “And then Ashley will come along and break it after.”