The question should not be why is Lawrence High sophomore Kayla “KJ” Williams such a good basketball player?
It’s more like, how could she not be a good basketball player?
The girl has basketball roots that run stronger and deeper than anything ancestory.com could come up with.
Her father, Dr. Clifford “CJ” Williams — an LHS assistant principal — coached at Trenton High. Older twin aunts, Coral and Cora Dayon, played for TCHS and Cora ran track at the University of Notre Dame. Her younger set of twin aunts, Kyra and Kara Dayon, played for Trenton and were key contributors to FDU-Florham’s NCAA Division III national championship team in 2014. Kyra recorded the first triple-double in school history as a freshman. Her uncle, Bruce Brittingham, also played for Trenton.
The six of them took KJ out to the park and began training her during the COVID summer of 2020, and continued to do so each year.
“Everyone has different specialties,” Williams said. “My aunts were smaller so they were guards, my dad was more a big and my uncle was also a guard so we did a little of everything with post moves and dribbling. It was really helpful.”
The result produced a freshman season the likes of which Lawrence High coach Dana Williams has not seen in her lengthy tenure.
“Daphne Gibb came out strong but I think KJ impacted the league stronger than any freshman I ever had,” Williams said. “She really made a name for herself freshman year. I’ve had some great freshman skill sets come in but the impact she made on games made the biggest stir.”
Williams averaged a double-double as a freshman; putting up big numbers before she even memorized her locker combination. The 5-11 post player led the Cardinals with an 11.8 points per game scoring average, and paced the Colonial Valley Conference with 13.8 rebounds per game. Her 359 boards smashed the school single-season record of 293; and if she stays healthy will likely break the career record.
“I definitely surprised myself,” KJ Williams said. “I knew I would have a good impact on the team and a good impact on the CVC. But I did not think it would be that big.”
Nor did her coach.
“I had her at summer camp for a couple seasons,” Dana Williams said. “I always loved her work ethic and coachability. But she really erupted her freshman year. I don’t think anyone truly knew what she was capable of out of the gate.”
It became apparent in the season opener against Bound Brook. Although scoring just four points, KJ – which stands for Kayla Jeannine – grabbed 19 rebounds. She surpassed that twice with 20 in a game, and in a five-game stretch late in the season Williams averaged 19 points and 16 rebounds.
The only drawback for the freshman was that Lawrence won just six games with a young team. But that didn’t stop her from dominating.
“In the beginning it was tough,” she said. “Losing so many games wasn’t something I was really used to. But then I started to look at it as how am I growing? How am I more improved from last year? When I started looking at it from that perspective it numbed the pain.”
That pain may lessen even further this year as nearly everyone is back and star forward Amber Wooding returns after missing all last year due to injury. Williams is also high on two incoming freshmen.
“We have three seniors who have been in the program for four years and having Amber Wooding back is huge,” Dana Williams said. “KJ and Amber work very well. The work ethic Amber put in, she was pretty much an assistant coach last season and this season she’s talking so much more on the court, running our offense better than I’ve ever seen her. I’m really looking forward to seeing the two of them work together this year.”
They showed their wares on opening night in a close loss to Notre Dame, as Wooding scored 22 and Williams had 17 points and 13 rebounds
But the coach doesn’t want it to be a two-girl show.
“Our entire theme is that the basketball needs to be our MVP,” Williams said. “If we’re gonna be successful we have to share the ball. I think they both get that.”
It may be team ball, but Williams will be a driving force in whatever success the team has. Since her start with the family on the playground, Williams played for Lawrence rec, moved on to the AAU Mid-Jersey Mavericks and began to show her potential in middle school. When she began varsity ball, the forward also worked on her guard skills as she is trying to make herself more attractive to college recruiters.
She knows, however, that she will be in the post this year, although Dana Williams gave her a goal of making at least one 3-pointer per game after making one all of last year.
“She just laughed at me,” the coach said. “That’s the big thing we’re working on this year. She has been training hard. Her 15-footer is looking a lot better and I’d love to see her shoot some threes this year.”
It’s not something the player is adverse to.
“I would still love to put point guard play in my play so I can be a more diverse player for college recruiters to look at,” she said. “I want to work on my shot inside and outside the paint. I guess I want to use it more inside but I want to work outside to be a more consistent threat all around the court.”
Her inside game is already there. She defends well in the post and uses her athleticism and strength to box out and create space. Strong basketball instincts allow Williams to read the ball off the backboard well.
“She’s very smart with her weak side of the rim positioning,” Dana Williams said. “She knows how to create space.”
CJ said much of her success on the boards comes from working with her dad.
“He taught me boxing out at a really young age,” she said. “It’s a little bit to the point where I’m already doing it. I don’t think about it much. It ends up in my hand and I go ‘Oh, did I even box out?’ But I did.”
While a lot of her points come from putbacks, Williams wants to start shooting away from the basket as well. And with as often as she goes to the line, her free throw shooting needs to improve. Last year Williams made just 66 of 126 free throws (52 percent). She showed progress against Notre Dame, hitting five of eight.
“I think that was her biggest critique of herself,” Dana Williams said. “I tell her ‘Stop thinking so much!’ It doesn’t sound like something a coach should be telling a kid but sometimes she overthinks.
“She does great in the classroom. She crushes it. So I think sometimes on the court she’s overthinking things and that affects her foul shooting at certain points. But she’s worked on it a ton and she’s looking really good.”
KJ crushes it academically to the tune of a 4.37 grade point average. It doesn’t stop there, as she is in the Club Advocates for Innocence Club, which brings awareness to those falsely imprisoned; and the Restorative Action Club, a peer group that solves students’ problems in lieu of detention. Williams is also in Lawrence’s Gospel Choir and Honors Choir (Madrigal).
“My music comes from my mom’s side of the family and my athletics come from my dad’s side of the family,” she said with a chuckle.
Her mom, Shana, is a guidance counselor in the Hamilton district, as education is a huge part of the family. It has all helped form the sophomore student-athlete.
“Cliff is amazing,” Dana Williams said. “I have a great relationship with Cliff. I always have. Even back in the days we were both head girls soccer coaches (Cliff at Trenton). We’ve always had a great relationship because he truly gets what athletics are deeply all about. It’s not what you see on the surface.
“I’m sure he’s instilled that in KJ. She’s her own biggest critic. It’s hard for me to get on her because she’s already coaching herself up at what she needs to improve on.”
And as she improves, it will be exciting to watch her proudly continue a family tradition.