Little sister Laila Jones: ‘Basketball is my thing’

By  Sean McBryan — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent

Wilson freshman Laila Jones grew up around high-level athletic competition. It runs in the family.

She played sports with two older brothers, each of whom will play Division I football next season: Jadyn at the U.S. Naval Academy and Cam at Holy Cross. Jadyn graduated in 2022; Cam will graduate this spring.

The youngest Jones wants to leave her mark on the hardwood in West Lawn.

“Jadyn’s main thing was football and he always stuck with it,” Laila Jones said. “He kind of let basketball go as he grew up. Cameron still does both and clearly he took the passion of football to college. Basketball is my thing.”

Jones learned lessons in toughness through the rough-and-tumble nature of growing up with two older brothers; she also heard critical feedback, which she eventually embraced and now uses to improve.

“Having brothers is kind of hard,” Jones said with a smile. “They’re tougher than me. I had to play tougher to keep up. I would get beat up, but it would just make me learn. Like, if I want to be great that’s how I’m gonna learn because they’re bigger than me already.”

Fast forward to 2023 and the youngest Jones, a freshman, is Wilson’s leading scorer. She is averaging 13.3 points and has scored the fifth-most points in the Berks Girls League behind Exeter junior Grace Reedy, Fleetwood senior Alexis Hess, Berks Catholic senior Caraline Herb, and Wyomissing sophomore Amaya Stewart, each of whom are either playing college at the next level or have interest.

Hess, who is committed to Kansas State, was the last freshman to make an All-Berks team in 2020. Jones could be next.

Wilson head coach Chris Gallo needed to rebuild after losing all five starters from last season’s county runner-up team; four graduated and senior Isis Dojan, an All-Berks selection last year, left the team after playing with the Bulldogs throughout the summer.

That left two seniors on the roster.

Gallo turned to Jones, part of a solid freshman class that includes Violet Houck (9.1 points per game), Laura Crocona (6.5), and Janai Tisdale (4.5).

Upperclassmen contributors — Elyse Robinson, Sarah Asplen, Jasilyn Moncada, and Kayla Maletto — didn’t mind taking a step back.

“It’s obviously a strong class,” Gallo said of the freshmen, “there’s no two ways about it. But I can’t say enough about all the kids in the gym. We are asking two seniors to not only play with these freshmen, but take a back seat. The juniors have seen the freshmen pass them. They’ve done it with class and grace and embraced being the big sister. (Our success) is not happening without that.”

It has paid off: The Bulldogs (8-4, 14-8) won five in a row to finish second in Berks I and have gotten stronger as the season progressed. They’ve won 8-of-9 heading into the postseason.

Jones (20), Crocona (13), Tisdale (12), and Houck (12) combined for 57 points in the 67-42 victory Monday in the season finale against rival Gov. Mifflin to secure second place in the division.

It was Jones’ third 20-point game of the season; she scored a season-high 23 in a win over Berks II champ Exeter and had 20 in a win over Hempfield.

Gallo, in his third season as Wilson head coach, has been around Berks basketball his whole life. He played at Muhlenberg for his father Roger, who’s now one of his assistant coaches. He coached the Schuylkill Valley boys for 15 seasons, the highlight coming in 2012 when his team, led by Cornell Yarde, knocked off Reading High in the Berks Conference semifinals.

Gallo was recently back in Leesport as Schuylkill Valley unveiled its new 1,000-point banners and saw Yarde, who scored 1,464 points.

“I said that he should come see (Jones) play because she’s ahead of him (at this stage),” Gallo said. “Forget guy or girl: She sees the floor, shoots it, and handles it better than he did as a freshman. The one thing he might have on her, and she’s gonna learn, is guarding.”

Improved defense is something that will come as Jones learns to expend her energy in different areas when needed; she’s being asked to be the main scorer and ballhandler, so she hasn’t been tasked with guarding the opposing team’s top player yet.

Jones has been dedicated to improving her game in the offseason through her own training and AAU play with Philly-based K-Low Elite, where she faces a different dynamic having to battle for playing time.

“I’ve gone against and played with talented girls and a couple of them even won states last year with their school team,” Jones said. “I don’t really get the opportunity to start on that team because we are all talented, athletic. I have to work a little harder and just keep trying to earn that spot.”

There’s still room to improve defensively and a leadership role at Wilson to continue growing comfortable with, but most of the time it’s hard to believe Jones is only a freshman. She has accelerated Wilson’s rebuilding process. With a group of talented classmates the sky’s the limit.

“I don’t think there’s a ceiling, really,” Gallo said of his freshman point guard.

Despite Jones’ early success the quest for individual and team success continues. As does the brotherly feedback.

“I sometimes have a hard time when they criticize things I can do,” Jones said. “But it’s beneficial for me. I just have to take it in and try to improve in the next game. Obviously my coaches tell me things I did wrong or things I can improve on, but since they’re my brothers they’ll tell me all out.”