Basketball was never supposed to be Taylor Tollestrup’s defining sport. She grew up a softball kid, playing year-round, and has already signed to play Division I softball at UNLV next year. Basketball, she said, “was just to get in shape.”
And yet she leaves Fernley High School as the all-time leading scorer, boys or girls, in school history, finishing with 1,710 career points.
“It was a little surprising,” Tollestrup said. “That wasn’t really my goal going into high school. I didn’t think I’d hit a thousand points. But once I hit a thousand and realized how close I was to breaking the record, that was my only goal, and obviously, going to state.”
Her four-year run was as dominant as it was unlikely. Fernley went 105–19 overall and 39–3 in league play during her career, reaching the state tournament all four seasons.
Tollestrup’s final year was her most decorated. She was named the Northern 3A East League MVP, the Northern 3A Regional MVP, and earned first-team All-State honors, a sweep that underscored her impact on both ends of the floor.
Tollestrup was joined on the All-League and All-Region first team by Justice Martell-Artiaga, while Irene Brown and Laura Rosales were named to the All-League second team. Zaelynn Wasson, Lillianna Young and Tatiana Velazquez all earned honorable mention.
Fernley coach Ralph Dunn was named the League and Region Coach of the Year.
Dunn said the awards only tell part of Tollestrup’s story.
“She’s just so athletic and a fierce competitor with high pain tolerance,” Dunn said. “She will go down as the best girls basketball player to play at Fernley. Her stats speak for themselves.”
Tollestrup was also the League MVP in softball last year.
“If Taylor would have played volleyball, she would have been a three-sport Player of the Year,” Dunn said.
Tollestrup never pretended basketball was her main focus.
“I think it was just getting in shape for softball,” she said. “It was always a side sport.”
Tollestrup signed with UNLV softball in November.
“Felt good,” she said. “Felt locked in, a plan for the future.”
Before she leaves, Tollestrup has one more goal: helping Fernley softball win back-to-back state championships, and earning back-to-back MVP honors in the process. And what will it take to accomplish that?
“Just have another good hitting year, fill my spot at shortstop, and be on a team that wins,” she said.
Tollestrup’s basketball career will be remembered for her numbers, but also for her perspective. She never chased the spotlight or pretended basketball was her passion, even as she became the best scorer the school has ever had.
“I didn’t exactly have the most fun playing it,” she said.
Even so, she will leave Fernley with a record that may stand for decades and with a future already mapped out in the sport she always loved most.
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