Prospect Watch: Aliyah Williams (2021)
Class of 2021 point guard Parkway North is one of the most potent and dangerous offensive players in the St. Louis metropolitan area. The 5’4″ Williams has that rare combination of speed and quickness to blow by opposing defenders off…
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Continue ReadingClass of 2021 point guard Parkway North is one of the most potent and dangerous offensive players in the St. Louis metropolitan area.
The 5’4″ Williams has that rare combination of speed and quickness to blow by opposing defenders off the dribble to go along with 3-point shooting range that extends well beyond the arc at times. There are plenty of guards out there who can do one of the other pretty well, but not a lot of them can do both with equal effectiveness. Williams is one of those players who can. When she is on her game, she is electric to watch.
“Being able to get by defenders off the dribble and make 3-point shots is a big advantage because your defender will never know what to do when guarding you,” Williams said. “I always try to do something different each possession, so that my defender doesn’t know what’s coming.”
For the season, Williams is averaging 19.6 points a game in leading the Vikings to a 16-7 record. she is also averaging 3.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists while shooting 37 percent from 3-point range with 64 makes from long distance. She also makes 84 percent of her free throws so fouling her late in the game is not a good idea as well.
Williams has had some of her big scoring games against some quality competition. She scored 35 points in a 70-53 victory over Hazelwood Central last week. She also scored 35 points in a victory over Class 3, No. 1 Whitfield at the Visitation Christmas Tournament in December. She scored a season-high 39 points while making seven 3-pointers in a victory over Belton as the Lebanon Tournament.
The big highlight for Williams and her teammates came on January 7 when the Vikings upended perennial Class 4 powerhouse Incarnate Word Academy 61-43. Williams scored a game-high 27 points a game to lead the Vikings to the victory over the Red Knights for the second consecutive year during the regular season.
“Getting the win over Incarnate Word was pretty exciting,” she said. “The win taught my team and I that we are capable of beating anyone when we go out and play hard, have fun, play with confidence and work together as a team. IWA is a very good team. After we won, we put that game behind us and started to focus on games coming up.”
Parkway North and Incarnate Word have split a pair of meetings this season with each team winning by the same score of 61-43. A third meeting is possible as both are in the same Class 4, District 7 field at St. Charles High.