KWOS Athlete of the Week: Jaela Nickerson

KWOS is highlighting an outstanding local high school athlete each week, brought to you by MU Health Care Sports Medicine. This week we feature Jefferson City Lady Jays guard Jaela Nickerson. Last week in the Union Basketball Tournament, Nickerson had 17 points in a Jefferson City opening round win over New Haven. In the tournament semi-finals, she had 11 points in a win over Lutheran South. In the championship game, Nickerson lead the Lady Jays with 19 points as Jefferson City won the tournament title with a win over previously unbeaten Bunker. Nickerson was named the tournament MVP. “Jaela for us, it goes a lot deeper and off the court and things than just what she brings to us in scoring, rebounding and facilitating. Jaela for us is a spark plug in practice and always loves to break the tension in practice. If we are not having a good drill, we can always look for her to kind of step up and bring us out of the slump. She is a positive energy all the time. She is smiling all the time, she’s having fun. If Jaela is having a good day and having fun, then all of us are going to have fun that day. Basically right now, 99.9% of the time Jaela is having a ton of fun and playing really well,” said Jefferson City Lady Jays Head Basketball Coach Chris Michaels. Nickerson is averaging almost 8.5 points a game with 26 assists and 23 steals. She is shooting 36% from the three point line, 92% from the foul line and has 64 rebounds for the Lady Jays.