On the night of Feb. 9, Jylisa Williams smashed an 18-year-old Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) single-game scoring record when she tallied 52 points against the Red Deer College Queens.
And the third year Broncos guard did it in 24 minutes of playing time.
Not surprisingly, Williams was named the ACAC's athlete of the week for February 4 to 10, the second time this season she's been recognized for that honour.
Although she's come nearly 3,800 kilometres to play in Olds from Atlanta, Williams has felt right at home on and off the court during her year at Olds College.
On the court during a practice on Feb. 13, it's obvious the 23-year-old has become a mentor to her teammates.
"We're all close. They all look up to me. Whenever they have questions, I give them advice.î
Having fallen in love with basketball in Grade 7, Williams played for two years on a full scholarship at Georgia State University from 2008 to 2010, where she was the lead freshman scorer in the Colonial Athletic Association.
She then took a break from the sport for two-and-a-half years and joined the U.S. Army and was stationed in Alaska, a posting that she said helped condition her for an eventual move to Canada.
"It kind of prepared me for the weather out here.î
But she felt the urge to return to the game she loved and once it was known Williams wanted back into the sport, Reg Carrick, coach of the Broncos women's basketball team, went after her.
"Coach Carrick was kind of the first person to get to me and I'd never been to Canada so it was kind of a life-changing experience for me,î Williams said.
Having coached at West Virginia University Institute of Technology, Carrick learned of Williams' desire to return to collegiate level play from an assistant coach he had worked with in West Virginia who was from Atlanta.
He began to correspond with Williams by phone and email and visited her last summer in Georgia.
After reviewing her transcripts, watching game tapes of her performances and speaking with her former coaches, Carrick invited her to come to Olds.
Williams' acceptance of that invitation, he said, has helped the team find its identity in its first year of existence.
"Us being in our first year in the ACAC, it meant instant credibility and instant respectability,î he said. "She's filled in so many gaps.
"When we struggle to score as a team, she gets an easy basket. She keeps the team's confidence high and keeps us rolling.î
On top of her record-breaking performance on Feb. 9, Williams has averaged 37 points a game against Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) schools this year, he added.
"As the competition went up so did her play. She had a game-high of 40 (points) against the University of Winnipeg.î
Williams is also the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association's top scoring female basketball player in the country for the entire year and she leads the ACAC in rebounds per game at 10.12 and is second in steals per game at 4.35.
In a game against Medicine Hat earlier this season, she pulled down a record-breaking 18 defensive rebounds.
With such a high-calibre player helping the rest of the team play their best, Carrick said, the squad has managed to achieve a 14-5 record and was set to play against NAIT in Edmonton on Feb. 16 for a berth in the ACAC championships.
Although she's had to adjust to some rule changes playing in Canada, Williams credits the military's "teamwork-basedî environment for her success in leading the Olds team and for her astounding season on the court.
"In boot camp, they instill that in you. You have to depend on the person next to you and I feel that basketball is a great sport to show that because it's a team sport.î
That trust goes both ways amongst her and her teammates, she added, and has allowed the team to continue to excel.
"Right now I feel our team is at its peak. We had our struggles first semester. Usually towards the playoffs you start coming together and become a stronger team and that's where we are. You can tell everybody's focused in practice.î
After this season, Williams hopes to transfer to a CIS school and coaches from the University of Alberta, Ontario's Western University and the University of Winnipeg, just to name a few, have expressed an interest.
At Georgia State, she majored in sociology and plans to finish that degree.
Carrick said she should have no trouble reaching that goal as she has a 3.0 grade-point average.
"Everything she's done on the court, she's mirrored in the classroom.î
From there, Williams is looking at the possibility of playing ball overseas.
"But if not, I've got my degree and I want to coach. Coaching is something I really want to do,î she said.
In the meantime, Williams was putting her "complete focusî on the Feb. 16 game.
"Right now, we're trying to prove a lot of people wrong,î she said.
Because the Broncos don't win that game, the team must play in a qualifying tournament in Olds on the weekend of February 22 and 23 for a last shot at reaching the playoffs.
"Right now I feel our team is at its peak. We had our struggles first semester. Usually towards the playoffs you start coming together and become a stronger team and that's where we are. You can tell everybody's focused in practice."
