GIRLS ALL-STATE: Despite injury, Reed guard repeats as top player

The only thing that could stop Gabby Williams this season was a ligament in her right knee.

Reed High’s point guard was on her way to a monster season before a torn anterior cruciate ligament brought an end to her season on Jan. 19.

Still, the 5-foot-11-inch junior did more than enough in the first eight weeks of the season to claim her second straight Review-Journal Player of the Year honor in girls basketball.

“You knew she was talented coming into the season,” Reed coach Sara Ramirez said. “But that extra year made her seem so much more mature. She knew the right decision to make on the floor, and she made it.”

Williams averaged 28.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 6.0 steals and 5.0 blocks in 2012-13.
She was the threat every team tried to stop, yet few could even slow.

“A lot of Gabby’s offense comes from her defense,” Ramirez said. “She anticipates so well, and when your point guard is your leading rebounder, it’s hard to stop. She grabs the ball, and she’s gone. There’s no outlet pass. She just goes.”

Williams had little problem rebounding against posts thanks to tremendous leaping ability. She placed fifth in last year’s Olympic trials in the high jump.

She’s already something of a legend in the Reno area.

“She really was on top of the world this year,” Ramirez said. “She has little kids coming up to her before games asking for her autograph and telling her she is the best player they’ve seen.”

College coaches have taken notice of Williams’ game, too. Among those interested are Connecticut, Arizona State, Stanford, Florida, Louisville and Kentucky.

Those schools still are keeping tabs on Williams, even after the injury.

“I’d never seen her get hurt before,” Ramirez said. “She just always pops right back up. As soon as she said it was her knee, I could see it in her eyes that it was bad.”

Williams had surgery Feb. 11 to repair the ACL and a partially torn meniscus. She is expected to be cleared to return to playing basketball in December.

“She’s bored now,” Ramirez said. “She’s not one to sit, but I know she will work hard and will come back better than ever.”

The Raiders weren’t the same without Williams, losing two of their final three games, including a Northern Region semifinal.

“I didn’t realize how easy it was to coach with her on the floor until we didn’t have her,” Ramirez said. “We had a young team, and Gabby made up for a lot of stuff the girls didn’t know. Gabby hid it because she did so many things on the floor.

“She’s just amazing.”

Williams is joined on the first team by four seniors — Bishop Gorman’s Tonishia Childress, Centennial’s Jada Brown, Reno’s Gigi Hascheff and Pershing County’s Sarita Jo Condie — and Liberty sophomore Paris Strawther.