Fort Worth, Texas - The Texas Wesleyan Rams basketball program endures a grueling 29-game schedule year after year. Whether the team is playing at Sid Richardson Gymnasium or traveling across the country and staying overnight in unfamiliar towns, the Rams stay bonded as one group.

A major reason for the team’s cohesiveness in the 2025-26 season is senior guard and power forward Peyton Foster, one of the team’s captains.

“We’re on the road for as many as four or five days, and you’re eating with these people, sleeping with them and playing with them,” Foster said. “To not have that bond with someone
like that would kind of suck.”

Before the season began, Rams players voted Peyton Foster, Kayla Fuller, Sophia Hurtado, and Kamryn Phillips as team captains. Being a captain requires leadership and natural energy every single day. Combined with Foster’s love for her teammates and her love for basketball, those qualities shine on and off the court.

“The elected captains know what coach Scott Hyland wants, and we know what to expect,” senior forward Sophia Hurtado said. “We have to make sure we’re doing the right things on the court during preseason — sprinting as fast as we can, conditioning as best as we can — just being leaders for the younger players.”

Foster did not begin her collegiate career at Texas Wesleyan. She started at Hill College, where current Rams head basketball coach Scott Hyland recruited her after watching her play in high school.

“She was not a highly recruited player by the Hill coaching staff,” Hyland said. “We ended up getting her as a walk-on originally. She did a great job coming in, understanding what was expected of her, and we were able to put her on scholarship the next year.”

Since rooming with Foster at Hill College as a freshman, Hurtado has always appreciated her welcoming and sociable personality.

“On move-in day, I already knew,” Hurtado said. “She came in and was like, ‘Hey, my name is Peyton.’ She is very outgoing and very welcoming.”

Foster plays for more than just herself — she plays in memory of her late father and for the people who have supported her journey. Of course, Foster is human and cannot maintain a positive mindset all the time. When she is down, she reminds herself of her dad, Frank Foster, who passed away when she was a child, and her mother, Melissa Foster, who has been a steady positive force in her collegiate career.“One of the biggest things I will say is my dad,” Foster said. “He’s the reason why I keep going.

Like on my hard days, I think about, ‘Why am I doing this? Why am I still here?’ and he is my why.” Another element that has propelled Foster into the captain’s role is her maturity, especially in critical game moments. With 7-8 seconds left against Texas A&M-Texarkana, the Rams had possession after a timeout. Foster received the ball but did not have a good look at the basket. Instead of forcing a shot, she made the smart decision to pass to an open teammate.

“And in that scenario, Peyton made the right decision,” Hyland said. “She didn’t have the open shot, but the next person, Jenae Moore, did, and Jenae ended up knocking it down.”

Since transferring to Texas Wesleyan, Foster has blossomed into the type of player and teammate that coaches and athletes dream of working with. Hurtado and Hyland have watched her grow while staying true to her love for the game and the people around her.

Foster, who graduates in May 2026, hopes to leave a lasting impression on the Rams program. “I just want to be remembered as someone hardworking and someone who constantly puts their best foot forward,” she said.