EYEING SUCCESS: Hun School girls’ basketball player Jayla Williams eyes the basket as she puts up a free throw in recent action. Last Wednesday, Williams scored 22 points to help Hun defeat the Pennington School 73-52. The Raiders, who fell 73-42 to the NC Good Better Best Academy National (N.C.) last Sunday in the She Got Game Classic in Philadelphia to move to 6-9, will play at the Blair Academy on January 16. The Raiders will then compete in the Rose Classic Super Jam in Brooklyn, N.Y., where they will face Mt. Zion Prep Academy (Md.) on January 18 and Riverdale Baptist National (Md.) on January 19. (Photo by Frank Jacobs III)
By Bill Alden
Last winter, Jayla Williams had her freshman season with the Hun School girls’ basketball team cut short due to a knee injury.
Williams played in just seven games before suffering a torn meniscus that sidelined her for the rest of the campaign.
Getting back on the court this past spring, Williams is back at full speed this winter, emerging as a key performer for the Raiders.
“I started in late April, I had AAU to figure things out and then come into this season,” said Williams. “I am proud of myself for coming back.”
Williams came up big from the outset last Wednesday as Hun hosted the Pennington School, scoring the first six points for the Raiders as they jumped out to an 18-4 first quarter lead.
“Coming into the game, I wanted to be confident in myself,” said Williams. “In the past few games, I haven’t been very confident so I wanted have a good start to the game.”
In reflecting on Hun’s hot start, Williams pointed to the team’s play at the defensive end.
“I think our defense is what led to our offense,” said Williams. “It was just moving a lot on defense and being connected. We were hitting our transition threes and moving the ball offensively because in the past games we were very stagnant. Now we are getting better at working it around.”
After a shaky second quarter which saw Pennington outscore Hun 20-17, Williams and her teammates were looking to go inside to regain momentum.
“In the third quarter, he wanted us to touch the paint more because that is where we had a lot of success,” said Williams. “With my teammate Mary [Tresler], it was playing the two-man game. If we get stopped, we just kick it out to our shooters.”
As Williams has gotten up to speed, she has looked to diversify her game.
“I would describe it as all-around,” said Williams. “I can play outside, I can knock down shots and also drive. I can post up and get to my spots.”
Hun head coach Sean Costello credited his players with showing resilience in the win over Pennington as only seven players were dressed for the game due to several other players being sidelined by injury.
“It is interesting, we are short so we are having to play a little bit different than we are used to,” said Costello. “We are trying to figure it out a little bit with some new kids. We had that long break, we came back and we have played two games now. I think they are starting to figure it out and getting their legs under them.”
The play of Williams and Tresler around the basket made the difference for the Raiders.
“We have scored more in the paint this year than we probably have in the past, Jayla and Mary are a big piece of that,” said Costello, who got 20 points from Tresler in the win. “They both can play in and out. Right now we have played some teams that we have had a little bit of an advantage with the two of them inside where I think they are comfortable facing up and going in. We are tinkering with things, figuring out where our advantage is, what can we do. We have been getting some post entry more.”
Costello liked the way the Raiders got it done in the third quarter as they outscored Pennington 24-7 to regain control of the game.
“We are young; we have these ebbs and flows in the game where we build the lead and then we kind of sit back and then we realize they need to get going a little bit and then they get into it,” said Costello. “Pennington is good, they figured out some things to do against us. I think we are learning how to play a full game right now. There has been some growth there in the last couple of games.”
Williams has been showing lots of growth this winter. “Jayla has a really good midrange game, she can shoot the three and she is strong,” said Costello. “She is trying to work on that inside-out thing where she can be a versatile player that hopefully some schools will take a look at.”
The addition of sophomore transfer Tresler has given Hun a boost in the paint.
“Mary has been great, she is averaging a double-double and has had a couple of games where she has had over 20 rebounds,” said Costello. “What I talk to Mary about also is that she does that without being overly aggressive. We are trying to get her motor going a little bit. I really think her ceiling is exceptionally high right now. She can actually shoot the ball really well too. She is a really good player.”
In the win over the Red Hawks, freshman Breezy McAllister showed her game, scoring 12 points off the bench.
“Breezy can really shoot, that is the best game Breezy has had,” said Costello. “She is strong. This tends to be the time of the year if a freshman is getting good enough minutes, they are going to be getting a little bit more comfortable. She had some really good post moves. Even the shots she missed looked close. She did well.”
Topping Mid-Atlantic Prep League (MAPL) foe Pennington was a plus for the Raiders as they head into the homestretch of the season.
“These games are all important, we came into this game very focused,” said Costello, whose team fell 73-42 to the NC Good Better Best Academy National (N.C.) last Sunday in the She Got Game Classic in Philadelphia to move to 6-9. “We have a midweek schedule and then we have a weekend schedule. Our midweek schedule tends to be our league games and our weekend schedule has some pretty heavy hitters. They are showcases that we want to win but what we really want to do is learn a little bit, develop and figure out how we are going to play. Definitely coming into the midweek we have opportunity to win some games.”
With Hun currently shorthanded, its young players are going to learn some valuable lessons as they play at the Blair Academy on January 16 and then compete in the Rose Classic Super Jam in Brooklyn, N.Y., where they will face Mt. Zion Prep Academy (Md.) on January 18 and Riverdale Baptist National (Md.) on January 19.
“I think we might be stuck at seven for a little bit but you only need five,” said Costello. “We are young so those kids who are playing a lot of minutes and being asked to so things they didn’t anticipate having to do and now all of a sudden they are getting better. I always say you want to win every game but at the end of the season is when you want to be peaking. That is the plan.”
Looking ahead, Williams believes that Hun can build on its performance in the win over Pennington.
“We played well but we also need to focus on taking care of the ball more,” said Williams. “We had a lot of turnovers. We think we are pressured but we really we are not pressured. We have to take care of the ball and also find the open players.”