Freshman Laila Jones is UECU girls basketball Player of the Week
By Sean McBryan — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
Freshman Laila Jones scored 34 points across two games to lead Wilson to a pair of wins and earn Utilities Employees Credit Union Player of the Week.
She scored a team-high 14 points in a 43-29 victory over Conrad Weiser Tuesday and a game- and career-high 20 points in a 49-40 win over Hempfield Saturday.
Jones has the Bulldogs off to a 5-2 league and 9-7 overall record in her first season running the point for head coach Chris Gallo. She leads the team in points per game (12.6), 3’s (16), and free throws (39). She is shooting 71 percent from the foul line.
Jones, the highest-scoring freshman in the county, is ninth overall in scoring average among players who have played at least 13 games.
She has reached double figures in 11 of 16 games and has had 12 or more in five straight games.
Jones’ athleticism and ballhandling is already on par with the more experienced players in the league.
She also gets after it on the defensive end, bothering opposing point guards and jumping into passing lanes for steals.
The Bulldogs have won three in a row and were one of four teams, along with Brandywine, Hamburg, and Schuylkill Valley, to go undefeated last week.
Wilson, Reading High (6-2), and Gov. Mifflin (5-2) are chasing Berks I leader Berks Catholic (7-0).
The Bulldogs play the Saints Monday in West Lawn. The Saints won the first meeting 43-34 Dec. 16 at Wolf Gymnasium.
Jones is the first Wilson player to earn Utilities Employees Credit Union Player of the Week honors.
Players considered for Player of the Week honors are nominated by their coach or by members of the MikeDragoSports.com coverage team.
Also considered for Utilities Employees Credit Union Player of Week:
- Berks Catholic’s Caraline Herb
- Brandywine Heights’ Addison Benner
- Fleetwood’s Haley Wojciechowski
- Gov. Mifflin’s Shakyla Mayo
- Hamburg’s Hailie Edwards
- Kutztown’s Meaghan Dietrich
- Muhlenberg’s Sophia Fernandez
- Reading High’s Bianca Seabury
- Schuylkill Valley’s Natane White
- Wyomissing’s Amaya Stewart
Selected earlier this season:
- Dec. 12: Alexis Hardy, Wyomissing
- Dec. 19: Morgan Snyder, Oley Valley
- Dec. 26: Caraline Herb, Berks Catholic
- Jan. 2: Ashanti Chapman, Reading High
- Jan. 9: Amelia Gassert, Hamburg
- Jan. 16: Juliana Stichter, Schuylkill Valley
Selected last year for Utilities Employees Credit Union Player of Week:
- Dec. 20: Kya Washington, Reading High
- Dec. 27: Caraline Herb, Berks Catholic
- Jan. 3: Shakyla Mayo, Gov. Mifflin
- Jan. 10: Alexis Hess, Fleetwood
- Jan. 17: Addison Benner, Brandywine Heights
- Jan. 24: Lekaiah Solomon, Schuylkill Valley
- Jan. 31: Caroline Reedy, Berks Catholic
- Feb. 7: Addison Benner, Brandywine Heights
- Feb. 14: Caroline Reedy, Berks Catholic
- Feb. 21: Shakyla Mayo, Gov. Mifflin
- Feb. 28: Aailyah Dabney, Berks Catholic
- March 7: Avery Potteiger, Brandywine Heights
