At 5-foot-9, Ankeny senior Jayla Williams doesn’t look like a typical post player on the basketball court.
But with her outstanding athleticism, the Creighton recruit can occasionally take advantage of a smaller defender in the paint.
That’s exactly what Williams did on Tuesday night, when she scored 16 of her 21 points in the second half to lead the eighth-ranked Hawkettes to a 65-46 win over No. 11 Valley in a girls’ CIML Conference opener at Ankeny.
“We’ve worked on some things in practice, and I thought we performed well tonight,” said Williams. “There are still some things we need to work on in our press, but we executed way better than the other two games versus a better team.”
Ankeny broke away from a 31-31 tie with a 9-0 run in the third quarter. Reagan Baldwin made a 3-point goal to ignite the flurry, putting the Hawkettes ahead to stay.
Williams followed with six straight points. She made a pair of free throws, scored on a post move inside and then spun down the lane for another basket.
After giving her team a 40-31 advantage with 2 minutes 40 seconds left in the period, Williams flashed the “Too Small” gesture as she headed back down the court.
“She’s obviously really athletic, but there’s so much hard work that has gone into that,” Ankeny coach Nate Tobey said of Williams’ ability to score inside. “I’m just so happy for her to get the opportunity to show that off and to lead our team in that way. (Valley) got in some foul trouble early on, and that’s been a big thing for us–just working on our physical strength and the ability to finish at the basket.”
Williams converted an and-one shortly thereafter to extend the margin to 45-33. She later moved outside and drilled a 3-pointer to give Ankeny a 57-41 cushion midway through the fourth quarter.
“It was fun,” Tobey said. “The shots fell at the right times, and our girls just executed so well. And even when we had a turnover or two, we were able to bounce back and get good timely baskets right where we wanted them.”
After Valley closed the gap to 57-46, Baldwin took over down the stretch against her former team. She scored the last eight points of the game and finished with 14, one night after scoring a career-high 15 in a win over Des Moines Christian.
Six of those late points came on a pair of treys, both of which were assisted by Williams.
“This game definitely meant more to (Baldwin), especially coming off her game (Monday),” Williams said. “She had a lot of good 3s and open looks that helped us in that win, so we were looking for her tonight. They were face-guarding her pretty well, but we were able to find her better in the second half and that really helped us to close it out in the fourth.”
Ankeny (3-0) had four players in double figures. Freshman Ali Aguirre scored a career-high 16, and Ainsley Kiene added 12.
Aguirre got off to a fast start, pouring in her team’s first seven points of the game.
“It helps our shooters because they can get open looks if I drive or if we put Ali in the middle,” Williams said. “They obviously didn’t have many people to stop her as she showed us tonight. Whenever they did have to try to double her, it left people like Reagan or Ainsley open and that’s exactly what we want.”
Valley (1-1) had opened its season with a 59-46 victory at No. 10 Cedar Rapids Washington on Nov. 21. The Tigers got 12 points from Tylee Weite and 10 from Avery Moon on Tuesday.
Weite scored Valley’s first 10 points of the game, including a trio of 3-pointers. But she was then held to just one more basket the rest of the way.
“That had to be a team effort,” Tobey said. “We still left her open a couple of times, and they weren’t necessarily able to find her. She’s such a great player, and it takes a whole team to stop her.”
Ankeny will travel across town on Friday for another conference game at Ankeny Centennial. The Jaguars (0-1) opened their season on Tuesday with a 65-31 loss at No. 2 Waukee Northwest.
