HIGHLAND — Competition is the key to Caitlyn Sears' life. The Lone Peak senior grew up in such a competitive atmosphere that by the time she was a freshman in high school, she had to make a choice.

"I had to choose one sport when I was in the ninth grade, and it had to be a different sport than my older sister Jena played," said one of the state's top basketball players about the Sears' family rule.

It seems the siblings in this family take competitiveness to another level, and Caitlyn's father doesn't want them trying to outdo each other on the field of play. So, it's one sport and one sport only.

"We can't play the same sports because we compete too hard and fights would break out," Sears joked.

Her older sister Jena picked softball when she made her ninth-grade choice, so Caitlyn dropped that sport and put everything she had into basketball when it was her turn to choose.

And it seems she made a good decision, as the 5-foot-10 combo guard signed her letter of intent with Southern Utah University the first week of this season. Knowing where she'd be attending college and playing ball has taken the pressure off and allowed her to relax a little bit more this year.

She's perfectly happy with the choice she made, saying she picked SUU because "their coach is the perfect coach for me. I went there and felt at home there."

For a girl with basketball in the family genes and a hoops scholarship to a university, Sears isn't all about her own sports concerns. She's the ultimate teammate, saying her favorite part of competitive sports is getting to know your teammates and all the people you meet playing basketball.

But since she doesn't like to lose, it's also a good thing Sears has a balanced group of teammates she can count on at Lone Peak.

"It's nice to have teammates to pass it to. It's a lot less pressure on me, and it's nice to have that kind of confidence in what your teammates can do," said the girl who learned at a young age to have no mercy when playing athletics.

It's also nice for a team that had such an easy time winning in the early part of the season to go to a national tournament against some of the toughest competition the United States has to offer and get a wake-up call they really needed.

Saying they played phenomenal teams, Sears noted the team learned its lesson in Arizona, and they aren't looking past anyone anymore. She and her teammates are working on playing every quarter in every game, no matter who the competition is. But those teammates aren't always easy on their superstar, as she notes when telling about her most embarrassing moment on the basketball court.

It was her sophomore year, and she has a habit of biting on her jersey when she gets nervous. Her nerves were tingling late in a game, and one inauspicious bite later left her jersey stuck to her braces in the team huddle during a time out. She's not such a superstar that her teammates didn't feel comfortable in giving her a hard time as they, "were pointing and laughing at me."