Lady Chiefs Junior Standout Makes Verbal Pledge to Play for NCAA D1 Women’s Hoops Program in MAC
PISCATAWAY, NJ—While a couple P-Way boys basketball senior standouts have made, or are in the process of making their college choices, a junior standout for the Lady Chiefs hoops squad has already made her college choice. On Sunday, Junior forward, Kaelonn Wilson made a verbal commitment to play college basketball at the University of Buffalo of the Mid-America Conference.
A three year member of the Piscataway Girls Basketball team, Wilson played one game for the last Lady Chiefs team to win a GMCT Girls Championship in 2017-18. The following season, she teamed up with fellow sophomores Ariel Jenkins and Tori Fisher to lead the Lady Chiefs to a 12-12 record including a 10-2 mark in the GMC Red with those two lone division losses coming at the hands of division champ, and 2019 GMCT Final Four team, J.P. Stevens, the Chiefs reached the quarterfinals before losing to an upstart Middlesex team.
With Jenkins transferring to Stuart Country Day school in Princeton during the off-season, Wilson along with Fisher, and fellow junior Mia Rose, still managed to improve to a 16-10 overall record including a 10-2 mark in Red Division play with the only two losses coming again to division champ, and 2020 GMCT Final Four team, Monroe. P-Way earned the 4th seed in the 2020 Girls GMCT, but after rolling past last year’s finalist Edison in the Round of 16 (73-37), the Lady Chiefs fell to a determined South River team (52-40) in the quarterfinals.
This past season, Wilson played in all 26 of Piscataway’s games, made 112 field goals (ranked 2nd on team) and 35 foul shots for a total of 259 points, or just under 10 points per game, which ranked 2nd on the team. In addition, she also collected 323 rebounds, 57 blocks, 20 steals, and 14 assists. Averaging 12.4 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game during the 2019-20 season, Wilson led the Lady Chiefs in both categories. She more than quadrupled her scoring, almost tripled her rebounding, and had over 11 times more blocks than she had her sophomore year.
As a sophomore, Wilson played in 21 of Piscataway’s 24 games, made 59 field goals and 7 free throws for a total of 125 points along with 113 rebounds, 15 assists, 9 steals, and 5 blocks. She averaged just under 6.0 points and 5.4 rebounds per contest. In 47 games over the last two seasons, Wilson made 171 field goals and 42 foul shots for a total of 384 points along with 436 rebounds, 62 blocks, 29 assists, and 29 steals. She averaged 8.2 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks during that span according to stats compiled at NJ.com.
Over the past two seasons, Wilson scored in double figures 21 times including fifteen occasions this past season. She also had double digit rebounding games 24 times over the past two years including 21 such games this season. This season, Wilson compiled 15 double-double including an 18 point, 22 rebound performance in a 53-47 loss at North Hunterdon on January 4th. Both point and rebound totals in that game versus the Lions were career highs. Wilson also grabbed 18 boards twice at Paterson Kennedy (won 61-59) on January 25th, and versus Edison in the GMCT Round of 16 on February 19th, a game covered by GMC Hoops.
Wilson also had a 16 point, 16 rebound double-double performance in a 70-58 victory at South Brunswick on January 9th. She also had a career high 5 blocks on four different occasions this past season including the GMCT victory over Edison and in a 12 point, 13 rebound double-double at Monroe (54-50) on January 14th. Wilson is looking to join a solid women’s basketball program at the University of Buffalo. Over the past four seasons, the Bulls have compiled an overall record of 94-38 including a 47-25 in Mid-American Conference play.
In 2017-18, the University of Buffalo had a tremendous season going 29-6 overall including a 16-2 mark in conference play for the 2nd seed in the post-season tourney, which the Bulls lost by falling to top seeded Central Michigan (96-91) in the 2018 MAC Women’s Hoops Championship. The 11th seeded Bulls then proceeded to win its first NCAA tourney game by knocking off 6th seeded South Florida (102-79). Then, the University of Buffalo upset 3rd seeded Florida State (86-65) to advance to the NCAA Women’s Sweet 16 before losing to 2nd seeded and defending National Champion, South Carolina in the Albany Regional Semifinal.
Congratulations, Kaelonn, and best wishes for a successful senior season and future endeavors.