You are correct, that was her.
It was Ayla Roth, all-stater, picking up trash under the bleachers after the game. It was also her, senior team leader, making sure to put the ball rack away after practice. Little things. Little things that make a big impact.
Ayla, short for Aylandra, is a 5-foot-8 senior point guard for one of Class C-1’s elite girls basketball teams for this season, the 11-1 Milford Eagles. She is also somebody who confident in her own abilities whether it’s bringing the ball up against the press or needing the big base hit to cap a softball rally. Beyond all that she’s somebody who wants things done the right way and encourages others to do the same.
“My parents and coaches have taught me to believe in what I stand for and to speak my mind, helping where I can,” says Ayla. “A lot of that fell into place when I moved back to the point after my junior year.”
Coming up through the ranks Ayla was always her team’s point guard, whether it was her local team or a select squad she played for, partly because she was really good at the sport, partly, probably mostly because of her ability to lead others. For about six years she was also in a local dance troupe, and also played a lot of softball before deciding she would make basketball her primary sport. She’d still play softball, loved that game, but she was going to spend all of her added practice time working on basketball.
And that certainly paid off, in more ways than one. This basketball season she’s averaging 18 points per game (when every opposing defense is designed to stop her from doing just that), adding four assists and four steals per game. She is a four-year starter who has been honored in about every way a high school basketball player can be honored, and done it all with a team-first mindset.
“My teammates and I respect each other, and I know they look to me to keep the ship steady when our team is going through the ups and downs that come in a four-quarter game,” says Ayla. “I like to think that when we need a play I can get the job done, or help a teammate get the job done. All I really care about is doing what it takes to win.”
And she’s worked hard to get to this point in her career. Just ask her coach, and her uncle, Bryce Roth.
“Ayla has paid the price, and she continues to today,” says Coach Roth. “She’s put in countless hours in the gym, in-season, off-season, with her club teams and even on her own in her little half court gym she has in their garage.”
There’s no better leader than a selfless leader and Ayla fills the bill, like last Tuesday in a win against Syracuse. The team’s leading scorer barely did - six total points - while she had three teammates score well into double digits during a lopsided victory
“Don’t get me wrong, she likes to get her ‘buckets’ but what Ayla cares about most is her team,” adds Coach Roth. “She also had 11 assists that game, another example of how she has matured to the point that she can be just as great as a distributer as a scorer.”
Born in Lincoln, Ayla has a younger brother who wrestles for the Milford High team, and for fun she enjoys shopping with her friends and family, and also board games. (Winning board games, I would imagine.) She also likes watching TV and movies, Clueless among her favorite movies and the Vampire Diaries and Outer Banks series on TV.
Given her choice her favorite food in the world is her grandma’s mashed potatoes (let’s be honest, any list of foods that starts with “grandma’s” anything is a winner), and she enjoys pop and rap music, some country now and again, and a little R&B also in the mix. She’s an outstanding student with a 3.6 GPA, is a member of the MHS student council and is also involved in Fellowship of Christian Athletes. This is Milford High’s first year for offering FBLA and Ayla is part of it all, her project on sports management.
Beside her basketball greatness Ayla also enjoyed a five-star high school softball program. A lefty, all the way - and why is it all lefties make things look so easy? - she played center field for the Eagles, last season putting together an eye-popping stat line that included batting .531 with 43 hits, 47 runs, eight homers, five triples and 27 runs batted in.
Ayla wears No. 4 in basketball and softball to honor her aunt, Brittany (Roth) Green. “She’s been a role model for me, somebody I really look up to,” says Ayla. Though Aunt Brittany lives in California (don’t worry, it’s in the north part) the two FaceTime and text each other to stay in constant contact.
Ayla has given her verbal commit to Concordia University where she will play basketball and study exercise science, the idea to someday become a physical therapist.
When she started youth basketball back in the day Milford’s team was a full capacity but with time many of those girls migrated to other interests, leaving just three seniors on this year’s team. In addition to Ayla they include another four-year starter and team leader, Izzy Yeackley, and Karlee Kuklis. “This has been an especially fun year to share with those team, and we have developed a great bond,” says Ayla.
Which is awesome. As her competitive drive.
“Ayla is extreme competitor and her leadership style is more that of a tone setter with her focus, energy, and intense competitive toughness she brings every day,” says Coach Roth. “She is not the most vocal but she has grown and matured immensely as a leader. Ayla loves basketball, she loves her teammates, and she loves to compete and her passion is contagious. Her teammates love her for that.”
To this point in the season Milford girls basketball is at a plateau the program’s seldom - ever? - seen, with the 11 wins in its first 12 games. While there are still several weeks left in the regular season there is a giant hurdle before Ayla and her team, a breakthrough that she desperately wants them to share, and that’s getting to the state tournament. Something Milford girls basketball has done only twice before, the last time in 2008.
And it’s not like they ain’t been close. Milford has reached the district final in all three of Ayla’s previous basketball seasons, only to lose them all. Ugh.
“To make it to Lincoln would mean everything to me. It would validate all the hard work by me and my team,” says tells you. “Losing those district finals was devastating but learned from all of them and have put it behind us. This year as a team we are really bringing it every time we step on the floor, whether in practice or a game, and I really believe that can be the difference if we get another chance to make it to state.”
