Jylisa Williams caps spectacular season by winning CIS MVP

It’s official.

Lakehead’s Jylisa Williams is the best university women’s basketball player in Canada.

The former George State guard, who spent two years in Alaska serving in the United States Army, on Wednesday night was named Canadian Interuniversity Sport’s most valuable player, after leading the nation in scoring.

Williams, a native of Atlanta, said she was humbled by the honour, after leading the Wolves into the OUA semifinals before her season came to a crashing halt on Saturday after a questionable collision with Windsor’s Emily Prevost.

“I was definitely more shocked about this decision,” said Williams, the OUA MVP whose concussion symptoms left her unable to travel to Laval, Que. to receive the award in person.

“It’s a huge accomplishment. There are not too many people that can say they have been player of the year at this type of level. It was pretty cool.”

Her numbers speak for themselves.

Williams averaged 28.8 points a game and set a new OUA standard with 548 points, smashing the 506 put up by Western’s Jenny Vaughn a year ago.

She also broke a 32-year-old standard when she scored 50 points in a game against the Toronto Varsity Blues, one of four times the senior star scored 40 or more points.

The previous record was 49, set in 1982-83. Williams, also named to the all-Canadian first team, led the CIS in steals, was seventh in rebounds and in the top 25 in assists.

The win was a rarity for Lakehead at the national level.

Prior to Williams, hockey’s Joel Scherban was the most recent CIS most valuable player in his sport, capturing the Joseph A. Sullivan Trophy in 2005. Vince Fryia also won the award in 1980.

“I’ve always dreamed big. I’ve always had hopes of being one of those players that led her team to a championship or whatever. But I still can’t believe it. The shock of it is still hitting me right now. It’s amazing.”

Her coach Jon Kreiner said it’s too bad Williams’ injuries wouldn’t allow her to accept the award in person.

“I’m really, really proud of just what Jylisa’s had to go through just to get to where she is right now. Everybody knows her story right now. It’s just the icing on the cake for sure,” said Kreiner, who will accept the Nan Copp award on Williams’ behalf.

“She’s worked extremely hard for this opportunity to be recognized at the highest level of women’s basketball here in Canada. She’s really adapted and adjusted to the Canadian game. And she was just a proud Thunderwolf in the way her demeanor is out on the court. She really separated herself from the rest of the competition and really elevated the level of our team’s play.

“And that’s the real reason why she won this award.”

As for her future, the MVP win should only help her case as she shops her services to teams in Europe, where Williams hopes to play professionally next year.

“I hope this award brings a lot of attention,” she said. “It’s saying I’m one of the best players in Canada and I want to show that. Hopefully that looks good on my resume. And if not, I’ll be more than happy to show them on the court.”

Beyond the arc: UBC’s Kris Young, McGill’s Mariam Sylla, Dalhousie’s Courtney Thompson and Windsor’s Korissa Williams were also named to the all-Canadian squad. Korissa Williams was named defensive player of the year. Guelph’s Bridget Atkinson was rookie of the year while Windsor’s Chantal Vallee was named coach of the year.