Mylee Stiefel takes her basketball very seriously.

While many of her friends and classmates are spending their summer swimming and vacationing, Stiefel is working on her basketball skills.

Stiefel, who will be a senior at Burlington High School this fall, recently played in two national tournaments in Louisville, Kentucky.

Stiefel, a member of Team Iowa, helped her team go 6-2 in the prestigious Run For the Roses Classic July 10-14 at the Kentucky Exposition Center.

Last weekend, Stiefel was back in Louisville for the E40 National Championships, where she helped Team Iowa finish second.

With a three-month break from school, there is nowhere else nor anything else Stiefel would rather be doing.

“It was really fun,” Stiefel said. “They were really big tournaments. The Run For The Roses was one of the biggest tournaments in the nation. There were teams there from everywhere across the country. It was fun to compete against them and see how they play. It was fun to play against girls who love the game as much as I do. We went 6-2, which is really good against that high of a level of basketball.”

Several of the games at the Run For The Roses Classic were televised nationally on ESPN. While Team Iowa didn’t make it on the broadcast, Stiefel said seeing girls basketball get national exposure was a unique experience.

“We actually got to watch the game that was televised,” Stiefel said. “It was cool to see a high school girls basketball game played on that big of a stage. At all of our games the stands were filled with college coaches. It was fun to know that they were there watching.”

Stiefel made quite an impression. At the Run For The Roses, she sank six 3-pointers and scored 28 points in one game.

A week later at the E40 National Championships, she hit five 3-pointers and scored 20 points in the championship game, which Team Iowa lost by two points.

“It was a lot of fun. Everyone was really competitive,” Stiefel said. “We played two games each day. The games were really fast paced, which is what it will be like when I get to college.”

Stiefel paid a price for her success. She suffered a broken nose in the Run For The Roses Classic, then broke it again at the E40 National Championships.

“There was a lot of blood the second time,” Stiefel said. “I kept playing with a mask on. It hurt my vision depth, so I took it off after that. Luckily, I won’t have to have surgery.”

Stiefel, a 5-foot-7 guard, is still weighing her college options. She travels twice weekly to Hiawatha for practice. While the season now is over, she intends to work on her game through the fall.

Stiefel averaged 18 points, 3.1 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 2.6 steals last season for BHS.

Stiefel said the trips to Louisville were not all about basketball. She got to do some sightseeing with her family while they were there.

“We went to see the Kentucky Derby site and the Louisville campus. There are a lot of cool places there,” Stiefel said. “I love going to tournaments. I love spending time with my family and hanging out in the hotels. It’s great to make memories with my family and friends.”