As the sixth-leading scorer in Class 5A, Ankeny senior Jayla Williams is among the most productive offensive players in Iowa girls’ basketball.
But it’s everything else that the Creighton recruit does on the court that makes her one of the state’s best all-around players in the Class of 2026.
Williams showed off all of her skills on Tuesday while scoring a game-high 27 points to lead the fifth-ranked Hawkettes to a 66-59 victory at Waukee.
“She was all over the court,” Ankeny coach Nate Tobey said of Williams. “She’s really our engine on both ends of the floor, and that was certainly true tonight.”
Williams scored 20 of her points in the first half as Ankeny built a 36-25 lead at the break. She converted a steal into a layup to ignite a 13-0 run that closed out the half.
“It gave us some good momentum going into halftime,” Williams said of the run.
The Hawkettes took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Allison Hawkins that was assisted by Williams. After Williams followed with trey of her own, she then earned another assist with an incredible effort that resulted in a 3-point play by teammate Ainsley Kiene.
Williams jumped along the sideline to save the ball from going out of bounds, then threw it into the lane where a cutting Kiene caught it and scored while being fouled. Kiene then converted the ensuing free throw.
“I like kind of saw (Kiene), but not really,” Williams said. “I was just throwing it because I was about to go out (of bounds). I was just hoping for the best, but she got it and got the and-one. I was very happy for her.”
Kiene then scored 11 of her 14 points in the third quarter. She made a trio of 3-pointers to help fight off a rally by Waukee, which closed the gap to 53-46 by the end of the period.
“She’s just gotten so good at reading the situation and knowing what we need,” Tobey said of Kiene. “She does a great job of connecting our team and bringing people together. She just has such a great understanding and feel for the game.”
The Warriors pulled within 53-48 when Abbajay Peters scored off her own miss to begin the fourth quarter, but Ankeny answered with a 3-pointer from Reagan Baldwin followed by five straight points from Williams–including two more steals that she converted into layups.
“Waukee is so much better than their record,” said Tobey, whose team won the first meeting against the Warriors, 56-48, on Dec. 12. “These teams that we play just get better and better with the schedules that we play, and that’s certainly true of Waukee. They’re really battle-tested because they’ve had the hardest out-of-conference schedule of any CIML team, so I’ve got a lot of respect for them for sticking with it. They’ll be a very, very tough out in the postseason.”
Maryne Szalo had 15 points and 12 rebounds to lead Waukee. Natalie Sitzmann added 12 points, five assists and three steals.
Szalo made two free throws with 33 seconds left to cut Ankeny’s lead to 64-59, but the Warriors were unable to overcome their 35.2 percent shooting from the field (19-of-54).
Williams helped seal the victory by coming up with a steal, a block and a rebound in the final 30 seconds.
“They kept fighting,” Williams said of the Warriors.
Ali Aguirre scored nine points, Baldwin had seven, and Hawkins added six for the Hawkettes, who improved to 7-4 in the CIML Conference and 10-4 overall. Waukee’s records dropped to 2-8 and 3-10.
Ankeny will host a conference game against No. 1 Johnston on Friday. The Dragons are 10-0 in the league and 14-0 overall after holding off No. 2 Waukee Northwest, 60-54, on Tuesday.
The Hawkettes will be looking to avenge last month’s 74-51 loss to Johnston, which is riding a 66-game winning streak.
“They’re a great team, and we know they’ll play with a lot of fire,” Williams said of the Dragons. “They won’t overlook anybody.”
