“A blessing in disguise” is the way that Clinton girls’ basketball coach Eugene Jefferson II describes the arrival of senior Rylee Chagollia for the upcoming season. “She’s a natural point guard who is an excellent ball handler with a good basketball IQ. She’s showing signs of being a good leader on and off the court and won’t ask her teammates to do anything she wouldn’t do herself.”
But by her own admission, basketball is not really the number one sport in her life.
“I prefer playing soccer because I’ve played it longer and I’m better at it. I didn’t start playing basketball until the fifth grade while I’ve been playing soccer since I was about three and have played club soccer for several years. I do like the pace of basketball, though, because it’s so fast.”
Rylee transferred to Clinton from Cordell last spring and played in several camps with her new teammates over the summer as she says she was warmly welcomed to the Red Tornadoes family which will help her be a good team leader this year.
“One of my jobs will be to make sure everyone is always hustling in drills and in games,” said Rylee who was in student council in Cordell and is involved in FCA at Clinton. “I would like to average 15-20 points per game and maybe 10 assists per game this year while being a positive leader. Clinton has really struggled the last few years, and I know a lot of people don’t think we’ll be very good this year, but I think my coming here will help and we have some talented freshmen that will probably start this year, so I think we’ll be better than people think.”
A center midfielder on the soccer team, Rylee is following through on her love for that game by committing to play next year at Southwestern State.
“I’ve always figured I would go there. Their coach, Mark Persson, has known me since I was little and he’s the coach on my travel team so I’m looking forward to that”.
But in the meantime, Rylee Chagollia hopes that she can lift the fortunes of the Red Tornado basketball team while helping the soccer team, which has been perennial playoff participant, rise to the next level.
