Northwestern girls basketball coach Todd Miller remembers well when Kylie Ballard joined his squad in the summer before her freshman year.

“She probably said three words the entire summer,” Miller recalled.

Ballard made plenty of noise on the hardwood that winter. The Purple Tiger post scored a team-high 14.3 points per game as a freshman, establishing a foundation for an outstanding career.

Ballard went on to lead the Tigers in scoring the next two seasons as well, averaging 17 ppg as a sophomore and 13.1 ppg as a junior. Now a senior, she is scoring a team-high 14.6 ppg after overcoming a leg injury that cost her a large chunk of the pre-Christmas schedule.

“To have a kid come in and lead your team in scoring for four years is pretty rare,” Miller said. “We’ve had some great players, but I’m not sure it’s ever happened at Northwestern. That just tells you a lot about her right there.”

Ballard is a terrific rebounder, too. The University of Indianapolis recruit is averaging an area-best 10.9 boards per game this season and 9.2 per game for her career.

“She has done a great job [in her career],” Miller continued. “From day one, she has been an extremely hard worker, a team player, unselfish and super modest. She is a great listener and a great learner, too. She has developed her game with me, by herself and with AAU. She really has done everything she needed to do to become a great player.”

The three-time Kokomo Tribune All-Area player solidified her spot in Northwestern’s history when she reached the 1,000-point mark against Maconaquah on Jan. 21.

“The whole thing was so overwhelming,” Ballard said. “It wasn’t really getting the 1,000th point, it was everyone cheering for me because I’d never had that before. I was in a daze.”

Ballard reached the milestone by hitting a 3-pointer, which is part of an expanded game. Once strictly a post player, Ballard has worked to develop her perimeter skills in preparation for the next level.

“In a typical game nowadays, she’ll spend half the game on the perimeter and the other half in the post. She is effective in both,” Miller noted. “Her rebounding is just as strong in both places. I think it’s been nice for her.”

Ballard’s senior season hit a bump right out of the gate. She suffered a leg injury when coming down with a rebound “in the first 30 seconds” of the Tigers’ preseason scrimmage. Ballard rehabbed under the impression she had a strained calf muscle only to find out later that she had a fibula fracture.

Ballard missed eight games.

“It was rough at the beginning — it was rough for me, not for my teammates, they played very well,” Ballard said. “And, we’ve just gradually gotten better and better. It’s nice to be able to play with them again. I think we’re going to do OK in sectionals.”

The Tigers went 3-5 overall and 0-3 in Mid-Indiana Conference games in Ballard’s absence. They are 5-4 overall and 3-1 since her return. Northwestern hosts West Lafayette tonight.

Ballard is playing at somewhat less than 100 percent, but it’s hard to tell. She has recorded five double-doubles with the most recent coming against Eastern on Saturday when she scored 18 points and grabbed 20 rebounds in a losing cause.

“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Kylie,” Eastern coach Jeremy Dexter said. “I’ve been here four years, she’s started for four years. … In four years, I can tell you, we play man to man and we can’t guard her one on one. She can jump out of the gym and they can lob it up to her. We’ve tried to front her, three-quarter deny her, sit behind her and bring double teams from all over the place. She gives me nightmares.

“That’s the fun of coaching — kids like that who are good kids, good kids in their community, great role models for the youth of their programs. That’s why Northwestern’s program is so good because kids like that just keep coming along.”

Ballard’s senior season is made even more special by the chance to play with her freshman sister, Hannah, a promising post player. The younger Ballard is averaging 3.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.

“I love playing with my sister,” Kylie Ballard said. “We kind of have a telepathic kind of thing going on. We usually know where each other is at on the court.”

Ballard is a three-sport athlete at Northwestern, playing volleyball in the fall and competing in track and field in the spring. She will keep a busy schedule at NCAA D-II school Indianapolis as well. In addition to playing basketball, she will compete in the high jump for the track team.

Ballard is an accomplished high jumper. She finished fourth at the 2011 state finals with a jump of 5-7.

Ballard plans to major in exercise science with an eye toward a career in physical therapy.

Miller is confident Ballard has a bright future.

“Just to see her develop into a young lady has been a great experience,” Miller said, describing Ballard as once a shy freshman and now a confident senior. “She is a great role model for other kids.”