Laila Williams can hit the three. But she’s ready to do more for Homewood-Flossmoor girls basketball and, by all accounts, she’s capable. 

“Shooting is a big part of my game, but I do have the freedom to attack the gaps if I need to or find the open person,” Williams said. “I am a combo guard. I don’t really like being pigeon-holed in one specific area.” 

Williams starts for the Vikings as a sophomore. Coach Tony Smith said she’s shown flashes of ability far beyond scoring. 

“Laila has great vision. She can pass. She can play defense when she’s locked in. She can do a lot more,” he said. “She’s going to probably have to be a point guard at the next level so she’s going to have to get those things and do those things. She can, I just think that she needs to work.” 

She says her role is to be a playmaker and scorer. Her scoring ability on display in a 57-40 SouthWest Suburban Conference win over Lincoln-Way West on Jan. 15. Williams was positioned behind the 3-point line, waiting for a gap in the Warriors’ zone defense to get a look.

She buried a shot in the third quarter, part of the nine points she scored that night. Smith said hitting that shot was important for Williams because, like a lot of shooters, sometimes a missed jumper can affect the rest of her game.

“Sometimes she just wants to stand in a corner and do less when it’s like ‘Hey, you can slash and you can pass.’ She makes some passes that I’m like ‘Whoa, that’s a great pass,’” Smith said. “But she doesn’t always put herself in position to make those plays, and I’m trying to encourage her to be in position to make those plays.”

Most of the plays H-F made in that game with LWW started on the other end of the court.

The Vikings (13-7, 9-1) forced 24 turnovers. That includes 16 steals for H-F, led by Aunyai Deere’s six. Katelyn Jones had five and Williams had a pair. 

“Defense is a big part of what we’re trying to do. Coach Smith tells us to put defense in the front of anything we’re trying to do,” Williams said. “Looking for those turnovers, looking for those deflections, that’s the main focus of this whole program, really.” 

Smith said his young team’s defensive effort is getting better but still is not where he wants it to be. The Vikings only have two seniors on the roster and the regular rotation features a freshman and two sophomores. 

“We’ve just got to be able to sustain it a little longer. We play in spurts and we lose focus,” he said. “I’m trying to relax a little bit and let them figure this thing out themselves because I think I was almost pushing them over what they could handle.”

H-F learned some lessons over winter break. It didn’t play in a local holiday tournament this year, instead heading to Arizona for the Nike Tournament of Champions. 

The opening game was a tough one, as the Vikings lost 55-17 to perennial national powerhouse Archbishop Mitty from California. The Vikings lost three of the four games in the Grand Canyon state but were competitive in all the others against top competition. 

Smith said it was good for his team to see what it takes to play at that level. A player from Mitty dove for a ball going out of bounds even in the final seconds of a game that wasn’t close. That kind of effort is what H-F coaches want to see from their team.

“That Arizona trip, I really feel like that helped us come together as a team,” Williams said. “It showed us that we can’t do it individually. We need to be together. We saw that progress even during the trip.” 

The Vikings only loss since Arizona was to conference leader Lockport. It’s one they’ll get a chance to avenge when the Porters come to Flossmoor on Jan. 27.