Girls basketball player Jasmine McWilliams has committed to Northwestern University. She is currently a junior and had many offers and chose Northwestern.

She is currently averaging 12.7 points per game, eight rebounds per game, and 1.9 assists per game. NC defeated Carmel 67-52 in McWilliams first game against her old team and she led the team in scoring with 15 points.

She chose Northwestern because she believed it would help her in the future. She wants to major in business which was a factor in her decision.

“The academics mostly, and because I want to major in business,” McWilliams said, “and the basketball program is really good, they put a lot of money into it.”

She had many offers to choose from starting in freshman year and she carefully looked through all the offers to find the best one. She will be one of the select Div-1 athletes from NC graduating class of 2020.

“It took me about a year and a half because I got my first offer in my freshman year and I committed on Sunday,” McWilliams said.

Like all student athletes McWilliams finds a way to overcome the obstacle of balancing academics and varsity athletics to be successful.

“It’s definitely hard because I do have to take challenging classes to get my GPA up, and trying to get my practices in and maintaining the right amount of sleep,” McWilliams said.

McWilliams comes from a completely different environment where she was the young one on the team listening and following the more experienced players. She is now one of the main leaders on her team.

“At Carmel I was on a team with a Miss Basketball and two division one players, I myself am D1 but most of them were older than me,” McWilliams said, “now I’m on a team which I am a junior and there are mostly freshmen and sophomores so I’m taking more of a leadership role.”

The team has had a great run this year with many wins and a second place in County. The team has done a good job of making McWilliams feel welcome and they’re all benefiting from it.

“I would probably say communication because the girls are freshmen and sophomores,” McWilliams said.

Communication and knowledge of the teams playbook plays a large role in the teams success.

“They’re not used to having to run plays and understanding what were doing, and focusing on the goal as well as staying focused,” McWilliams said.

McWilliams loves her relationship with the team kind of like a “sister bond” for them. They do a lot together and it shows when they step foot onto the court.

“It is actually really helpful,” McWilliams said, “we are all really good friends, we go out together and eat together, just having that chemistry makes it much easier.”

McWilliams wants to graduate high school with at least one state championship and she wants to get it going by winning sectionals.

“Next year just finishing high school and winning state the next to years starting with getting past sectionals,” McWilliams said.

She wants to go down as an all-time great for NC by becoming an all-star and all-state player. She also wants to focus on her academics and her college basketball.

“As far as basketball I want to win Miss Basketball my senior year and become a junior all star,” McWilliams said, “As for college making the WNBA is not a goal for me but winning Big Ten Player Of the Year is a huge goal.”

McWilliams is respected by her teammates and she shows her leadership on and off the court. She has also worked her hardest to be a leader and help the team in a positive way.

“Jazz is a great teammate,” sophomore Meg Newman said, “We always know she’s got our backs and she’s one of the best leaders I’ve played with and she deserves everything she’s accomplished.”

Few athletes commit their junior year, it takes a hardworking and motivated individual to decide what school to choose to continue their career. McWilliams and the team look to end the season on a high note.