Laila Williams, who gets first offer from Utah State, comes of age for Homewood-Flossmoor. ‘I was the GOAT.’

Sophomore guard Laila Williams is a pretty good basketball player for Homewood-Flossmoor.

But if you really want to get Williams going, ask her about how good she was when she started out in the sport at only 3 years old. She laughs when talking about her prowess at that early age.

“I played in a bitty-ball league against boys,” Williams said. “I got some buckets, and I have to say I was the GOAT.”

All these years later, Williams is still getting her fair share of buckets.

The 5-foot-6 Williams scored 12 of her 14 points in the first half Tuesday night, helping the host Vikings earn a 60-57 win over Lincoln-Way East in a SouthWest Suburban Conference season opener in Flossmoor.

Just like last season, H-F (4-2, 1-0) appears to be balanced as Toniya Brady and Aunyai Deere added 13 points apiece.

Brady hit a half-court buzzer-beater to end the first quarter, while Williams hit a buzzer-beating shot inches from beyond the arc to end the first half. Those points proved to be valuable as the Griffins (3-2, 0-1) cut a 20-point deficit down to three points.

“I never hit a half-court shot in a game — this was the first one,” Brady said. “I’ve hit them in practice. I saw the clock and I put it up. It felt good to get that.”

“Everybody knew that was going in,” Williams said.

Speaking of 3-pointers, Lincoln-Way East (3-2, 0-1) made seven of its 11 shots from beyond the arc in the second half to spark the comeback. Kaitlyn Dykstra led the Griffins with 19 points off the bench, while Emerson Nilsson had 15 points and seven rebounds. Ellie Guyette scored 11 points.

Williams, meanwhile, received her first Division I offer before the season from Utah State.

“It was pretty big getting that phone call,” she said. “But I’m just going to continue working on my game.”

H-F coach Anthony Smith believes there may be more phone calls in the future for Williams.

“She’s a kid who should have a lot more coming to her as long as she continues to improve and defend do the little things,” Smith said. “She has a nice touch. And she can shoot that 3-ball, which schools love.

“But they want to see her defend and be that tough guard and those are things she will continue to work on. She’s going to be a pretty good player.”

To that end, Williams also chipped in with four rebounds and two steals for H-F.

“She’s a shooter — she’s good,” Brady said of Williams. “She does a lot for us on defense and offense. She can drive and get steals.”

For the second season in a row, the Vikings came out of the gate facing some of the state’s best teams. They lost 63-49 to defending Class 4A state champion Kenwood and 72-55 to Benet at a tournament hosted by Naperville Central.

H-F hopes to learn from those losses.

“We did lose, but that has given us more motivation,” Williams said.

“We have to play harder and stronger to win against teams like that,” Brady said.

Smith also saw some good things against Kenwood and Benet.

“At times, we can execute and know what we’re doing to get it done,” he said. “But we get a little tired and we have to work on being able to play through that.

“Knowing that, my job is to go out and fix it.”

Once they get things fixed, the Vikings could be dangerous.

“I think we’ve had more ups than downs,” Williams said. “Obviously, we have to play better as a team. I feel like we can go far and definitely get to state.

“As long as we continue working and growing and play hard in games, we can go far.”

Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.