Early life
Byars was born and raised in the Dallas suburb of Richardson, Texas, one of five siblings born to Agatha and Charles Byars. One of her sisters, Tatyana, played for the Texas Longhorns soccer team for one season. Byars began playing soccer when she was four and joined Solar SC alongside future Longhorns teammate Lexi Missimo at age five. They led the team to win the USYS national under-13 championship in 2016 and the USSDA under-16/17 championship in 2019. Considered two of the top recruits of the class of 2021, they both committed to Texas when they were in seventh grade. Byars had offers to go pro out of high school from foreign clubs including Atlético Madrid, having trained with Atlético and Manchester City in the summer of 2019. She attended June Shelton School in Dallas, where she played basketball and ran track.
College career
Byars led the Texas Longhorns with 12 goals as a freshman in 2021, earning Big 12 Conference all-freshman and All-Big 12 second-team honors. She led the Big 12 Conference with 17 goals as a sophomore in 2022, helping the Longhorns win the conference regular-season title, and was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, first-team All-Big 12, and first-team United Soccer Coaches All-American. She scored 18 goals as a junior in 2023, as the Longhorns won the Big 12 tournament, and was named first-team All-Big 12 and second-team All-American. She scored her 47th career goal during the NCAA tournament in 2023, passing Kelly McDonald for the program scoring record (and was surpassed by Missimo one year later). She scored five goals in five games as a senior in 2024 before suffering a season-ending knee injury. She ended her college career with 52 goals and 36 assists in 71 games.
Club career
San Diego Wave FC announced on November 7, 2024, that the club had signed Byars to her first professional contract on a two-year deal through 2026, with the option for another year. She was the first NCAA player signed after the abolition of the annual NWSL Draft. Because of her ACL injury at Texas, she spent most of her rookie season on the season-ending injury list. Following her recovery, Byars made the bench for the Wave's regular-season finale on November 2, 2025. The following week, she made her professional debut in the playoff quarterfinals against the Portland Thorns, coming on as an extra-time substitute for Dudinha in the season-ending 1–0 loss.
On April 25, 2026, Byars made her NWSL regular-season debut in a 3–2 win over expansion team Denver Summit. On May 15, she scored her first professional goal in her first start for San Diego, opening a 2–1 victory over the Washington Spirit. On July 9, having scored four goals in the last five games, she signed a new three-year contract with the Wave through 2028. On August 21, she scored two goals and assisted the remaining two in a 4–2 victory over the Utah Royals. The following week, she again scored twice in a 3–2 win over Racing Louisville and was named NWSL Player of the Week. In doing so, she became the Wave's second-ever double-digit goal scorer in a season, joining Alex Morgan (2022).
