Senior guard Jayla Williams has led the sixth-ranked Ankeny girls’ basketball team to a 15-8 record. The Creighton recruit ranks among the leaders in Class 5A in scoring (21.1 points), steals (3.5) and field goals made (8.1) per game.
Williams scored 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out six assists as Ankeny rolled to a 60-30 victory over No. 11 Sioux City East in a Class 5A regional final on Tuesday. The Hawkettes advanced to state for the first time since 2013–right before the split into two high schools.
Here is some inside info on Williams:
Congratulations on making it to state. Did coach Nate Tobey let the players celebrate for awhile, or did you have to get back to work right away?
We definitely were able to celebrate. It was fun after the game being able to get Tobey to state in just his third year of coaching, and we were also able to watch some fun clips from the game the next day.
After losing the last three regional finals by a combined 13 points, how good did it feel to basically put the game away by the end of the first half? Was it nice not to have to sweat it out until the final buzzer?
It was good being able to play with the lead most of the game and knowing the severity of the game and still winning by that much, it made it that much better. And not having to play until the buzzer and all of our bench getting in was the best. We were all happy for all the girls who got to come in and play.
You broke the school’s single-season scoring record during Tuesday’s win and are now just 11 points away from tying the school’s career scoring mark of 1,392 that was set by Nicky Wieben from 2002-05. If you can surpass her record, what will that mean to you?
It means a lot if I am able to reach that, but I am still proud of the accolades I have accomplished already especially since those are all accurately documented and we have records of all of those. There have been some really great players to have played in this program, and it’s an honor to even be included in any discussion that has to do with anyone who has previously played at Ankeny.
Do you know much about Nicky’s career and everything that she accomplished?
I don’t know much about Nicky, but I heard she was a great player.
All of the home teams won on Tuesday with the exception of fourth-ranked Cedar Falls, which was upset by No. 12 Ankeny Centennial. Were you surprised that your crosstown rival advanced to state too?
I wouldn’t necessarily say surprised. They are a really good team, and they wanted it really bad considering nobody thought they would win. They are a CIML team, and no team in this conference is bad. I’m sure they got overlooked because of their record, and that’s exactly why they won.
Your team will now play No. 5 Cedar Rapids Washington in a Class 5A quarterfinal on Monday at 11:45 a.m. How much do you think it helps your team that you got to play on Feb. 7 at the Casey’s Center, where you posted a 50-40 win over Urbandale?
I think it helped us being able to play there just to be able to adjust to the bigger arena and different hoop setup than we are used to.
Does it take a little while to adjust to the different shooting background in the arena?
I would say it does take getting used to so it was great we were able to take advantage of our opportunity to play there and learn from it. When we played there against Urbandale, we shot decent from the perimeter but we could not finish from the inside very well and I think we will be able to adjust from that since we have experienced it.
What do you know about Cedar Rapids Washington from your scouting report?
Not much to say about our scouting report since we play them. That’s for our team to discuss, but Washington just like every other team in the tournament will be hungry and ready to play. They have a team that plays hard and will want to win.
The Warriors boast a 6-foot-4 junior forward in Sira Doumbia, who averages 16.0 points and 10.1 rebounds. Is stopping her going to be the biggest challenge for your defense?
They have a lot of other key players on their team so I wouldn’t say she is going to be our biggest challenge. I think she will be a part of the challenge just like all the girls on their team. We have Reagan (Baldwin), who has shown time and time again her abilities to guard big girls so I am confident in her and the rest of us in helping with their big.
Six of the eight teams in the Class 5A field are from the CIML, led by No. 1 and two-time defending champion Johnston. What is it going to take for anybody to knock off the Dragons, who enter the tournament with a 76-game winning streak?
It’s not a surprise most teams in the tournament are from the CIML–we have the best and toughest conference by far. To knock off Johnston, it would take a whole team effort and limit their runs on offense which teams haven’t been able to fully fulfill throughout an entire game yet.
Your team trailed by single digits at halftime in both games against Johnston this season, and you could get another shot at the Dragons in the semifinals on Thursday. Are you confident that you could play them even tougher this time–if you get another chance?
I am confident in us as a team, but I have not thought about Johnston at all because we aren’t playing them (yet). We are playing Washington, which is the first step if we want to get to Johnston. I am confident we will come better prepared if we are able to play them in the second round, but we first have to pull off the upset versus Washington to be able to keep playing.
