Bingham basketball: Jilian Powell profile

In mid-March, I interviewed Bingham (Utah) girls basketball player Jilian Powell. She told me her best memories of the season and I wrote this article for this year's Bingham basketball yearbook.

Jilian
Powell:

She was known for her scoring,
but she appreciated the other things

By Bruce Smith
Matchup

Jilian Powell is an athlete. She has played soccer, softball and basketball since she was a child. She gave up the other sports to play on coach Rand Rasmussen’s Bingham squad.

The Miners were led by senior Summer Yack this season. Next year, Powell will definitely be a player to watch.

“Without her, we’d be in trouble,” said Rasmussen. “She has all parts of the game.”

Powell averaged 8.2 points per game this year, topped the team in steals and, surprisingly, was credited with 16 blocked shots. She was named second team all-region and honorable mention all-state.

“In the game against Cyprus, she had a key steal and then hit back-to-back threes,” Rasmussen recalled. “She also ended up guarding their point guard. She’s versatile that way.”

For her efforts that night, the Deseret News named her its player of the week.

Powell was also a big help off the court. She was a team captain, of course, and part of the group that included Yack, Madison Aulai-Roe and Ashton Henderson that tried to improve camaraderie and team chemistry.

“I don’t think much about the games (anymore),” she said after the season concluded. “It’s about all the fun we had off the court.”

When you make the Bingham girls basketball team, it’s about more than just basketball. Sure, there are the games and dealing with Rasmussen. But there are the weekly team dinners, sleepovers and hanging out with teammates for at least three consecutive months that create lifelong friendships.

“Sleepovers on Friday nights became a tradition because we had practices early on Saturday mornings,” Powell said. “We would go to somebody’s house that had a big room. Then we would go to practice together.”

Practice helped the 18-member Bingham squad find their roles. In Powell’s case, she was asked to be a scorer, especially after Yack was injured late in the season. Powell always enjoyed shooting from the perimeter, but lacked consistency. She said Rasmussen asked her to shoot more, especially since opponents were focusing their defense on Yack.

“I had my best game against Layton,” Powell said. “At halftime, he was mad at me for not shooting, so I started.

In that game, Powell had a career-high 23 points. She only had seven at half, but came out in the third quarter and immediately nailed a couple of treys. Bingham took a nine-point lead, but eventually lost, 61-59.

Powell also recalled playing Pleasant Grove as one of her best performances. She had 12 points, including a couple of threes, in the 52-45 win there and then an 11-point effort in a 54-34 decision at Bingham.

“Beating Pleasant Grove was a big accomplishment,” she said. “We were on a losing streak and, at the time, didn’t know if we would make state.”

Of course, they did. Powell had 15 points in the tourney opener against Taylorsville. She said that was a game she’ll always remember.

“It was great,” she said. “It had been a long time since we had beaten a team like that.”

Powell thinks next year will hold bigger and better things for her and the Bingham basketball team. She planned to work hard during the summer and make herself an even better scorer next year.

A state championship might also help her recall her on-court exploits more.