ROCKINGHAM – Jayla McDougald, a sophomore on the Richmond Senior High School girls basketball team, has been named the Official Richmond County Female Athlete of the Week.
Emerging onto the scene in her first full season as a varsity Lady Raider, McDougald has been one of Richmond’s most consistent shooters through the halfway point of the season. Joining head coach Teddy Moseley during his first season at the helm, McDougald impressed in both games last week, notching double digits twice. This is McDougald’s first career Official Richmond County Female Athlete of the Week selection.
Athletic Profile
Age: 16
Birthday: Dec. 5, 2002
Year: Sophomore
Winter Sport: Basketball
Position: Point Guard
Years on Varsity: 1.5 years
Height & Weight: 5-2, 110-pounds
Experience: 11 years
“PULLING UP THE FACTS” WITH JAYLA MCDOUGALD
RSHS Academics: McDougald is gearing up to take several final exams this week, as the first semester at Richmond draws to a close. She’s currently enrolled in the Honors Civics with Moseley, Health Science I with Ms. Beth McDougald, Math II with Ms. Kakki Schertzer and Advanced Weight Training with Coach Shellie Wimpey. She’s also a part of the Health Science cluster.
“My semester has gone well,” McDougald noted as the first half of her sophomore year wraps up. “I really like all my teachers. I chose my cluster because I’m thinking about maybe being an athletic trainer, and Mrs. McDougald makes her classes so much fun. My favorite classes are Health Science and Weight Training.”
McDougald explained that she made the A/B honor roll the first nine weeks of school, and she currently carries a 3.8 GPA.
RSHS Sports: Like her fellow Official Richmond County Male Athlete of the Week counterpart Joseph Nicholson, McDougald is a year-round athlete at Richmond. She participates in three sports: volleyball, basketball and soccer.
This past fall, McDougald was an integral part of the junior varsity volleyball team that went 16-4. She began the season, her second at the junior varsity level, as the team’s libero before head coach Ashleigh Larsen moved her to right side hitter.
Last spring, McDougald was a forward and midfielder on the junior varsity soccer team. She anticipates going back out this year following basketball season. She explained that basketball is her “favorite sport to play” because she’s been playing it since you was little and has seen herself progress over the years.
“It’s hard sometimes to balance honors classes and being a (three-sport) athlete,” McDougald shared. “But I study and practice hard all the time. It was tough in ninth grade, but I’ve gotten better at it this year.”
High School Aspirations: With still over half of her high school academic and athletic career to go, McDougald hopes to continue on the current path she’s taking.
“I want to keep making good grades,” she said. “And I want to have all the awards when I graduate like being a junior marshal and being in the National Honor Society and a part of senior senate.
“I also want to complete my cluster,” she added. “There’s a nursing program offered at Richmond Community College, and it’d be cool to start that my senior year. I will begin dual-enrollment and RCC classes starting next year.”
While she’s taking Health Science classes now, McDougald said she’s considering becoming a nurse or an athletic trainer. She also likes the idea of pursuing a career in journalism. She noted she really likes North Carolina A&T State University since it has a “good girls basketball team.” But she’s also interested in Duke University or Clemson University.
Jayla McDougald (10) attempts a three-pointer during a game against Forest Hills High School.
Athlete of the Week Stats: While the Lady Raiders look to make a surge during the second half of their regular season schedule, McDougald will have to be a likely contributor to make it happen. Richmond sits with a 6-6 overall record, and is currently tied with Jack Britt High School for second place with a 2-1 record in Sandhills Athletic Conference play.
Over the span of her last four games, which goes back to the Anson County Shootout tournament over Christmas break, McDougald has drained double-digit points in all four performances. She dropped a career-high 19 points against Union Academy at the Anson County Shootout, while following up in the third-place game against Parkwood High School with 10 more.
Last week, McDougald tallied a team-high 11 points in a 55-48 loss to Forest Hills. She gave the Lady Raiders a 22-21 halftime lead when she laid in a bucket under the hoop off of an Allyiah Swiney steal as time expired. In Richmond’s 36-33 win over Jack Britt last Friday, McDougald scored 10 points, including a team-high two three pointers.
RAPID FIRE – FAST RESPONSES
1) What’s it been like during your first year on the varsity team?
“At first I was really nervous,” McDougald admitted. “I started the season really slow and was playing scared. But my mom told me to get back in my groove, which I did. Teddy always tell me to ‘let it fly,’ and I do better when I don’t think about things too much.
2) What are the goals of the team this season? And how do you feel about the team’s performance so far?
“We really want to beat Pinecrest and I want to get revenge on Lumberton for losing to them last year (in the SAC tournament),” McDougald said. “We’d like to win the conference and make it to the state playoffs — we’ve been working really hard and I think we can do it.
“This year we had a big coaching change,” she continued. “Teddy is a more aggressive coach, and he’s helped build our confidence up. The Pinecrest game brought it down some, but beating Jack Britt brought it back up and I think we can get on a roll.”
3) Who is someone who has impacted your life positively such as a mentor, teacher or coach?
“My mom, Taneika Reader,” she noted. “She coaches a travel basketball team, the Richmond Jammers. I grew up in the gym because of that, and thanks to her I kept going this season when I was struggling early on.”
4) If you could eat lunch with any athlete, who would it be and why?
“It’d definitely be Steph Curry,” McDougald shared of the NBA superstar. “He’s my favorite player, and the (Golden State) Warriors are my favorite team. I’d ask him about how he never gives up, and how he got his form to be so good. I like Olive Garden, so I think we’d go there.”
5) Name an interesting fact about yourself that many people may not know about you.
“I really like to dance,” McDougald said. “I used to dance a lot and went to Bold Moves Dance Company. I also used to be a cheerleader and I stopped playing basketball to cheer.
“But I saw girls on social media in middle school and high school and how good they were at basketball,” she concluded. “And I wanted to be like them, so in eighth grade I quit cheerleading and really started to focus on basketball.”
The Lady Raiders will be back in action when they host Hoke County High School on Tuesday, Jan. 8, at 6 p.m.
