Weber State basketball: Carlson hired as WBB assistant; Jones invited to NBA G League combine
-
- Left: Hillary Carlson, who is joining the Weber State women’s basketball coaching staff. Right: Weber State’s Dillon Jones in a game Dec. 22, 2022, at BYU.
-
- Hillary Carlson
-
- Weber State’s Dillon Jones smiles after a play against BYU on Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022, in Provo.
Jenteal Jackson‘s coaching staff continues to take shape as the new head coach gets her feet set for Weber State women’s basketball.
Jackson has hired Air Force assistant coach Hillary Carlson to be the team’s lead assistant, Jackson told the Standard-Examiner.
Carlson is a native of Cheyenne, Wyoming, and played collegiately for the University of Wyoming where she was an all-Mountain West First Team post player as a senior. She averaged 17.3 points and 7.2 rebounds per game that season.
After professional seasons in Portugal and Australia, Carlson coached five seasons at her high school alma mater before Wyoming teammate Randi Richardson-Thornley hired her as an assistant coach at Central Washington University.
After two seasons at CWU, Carlson was recruited by veteran coach Chris Gobrecht to join the Air Force Academy women’s basketball staff, where Carlson coached for four seasons.
Known for mentoring post players, Carlson was part of the staff that helped Air Force earn its first-ever bye in the Mountain West tournament, its first trip to the tournament semifinals, and the program’s first national postseason tournament victory with a win over San Francisco in the WNIT.
Carlson joins Cydney McHenry on Weber State’s staff; McHenry coached with Jackson at Westminster College. One full-time spot on the coaching bench remains to be filled.
JONES INVITED TO G LEAGUE ELITE CAMP
As WSU men’s basketball star forward Dillon Jones lines up workouts with NBA teams, he’s also garnered one big invitation, specifically.
Jones has been invited to the NBA G League Elite Camp set for May 13-14 in Chicago. The G League Elite Camp is essentially the lower league’s precursor to the NBA Draft Combine held a few days later, with a few select prospects earning invitations to participate in the NBA Draft Combine.
Other reported invitations to the NBA G League Elite Camp include Arizona’s Pelle Larsson, Kendric Davis from Memphis, Alabama’s Charles Bediako and Cliff Omoruyi of Rutgers.
Jones declared for the NBA Draft while maintaining his college eligibility with the intention to return to school. The 6-foot-6 forward averaged 16.7 points, 10.9 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 2022-23, including earning the nation’s defensive rebounding crown, and stands to be part of a group of returners that includes WSU’s entire starting five from last season.
TAYLOR WINS DECA COMPETITION
Weber State women’s basketball shooting guard Laura Taylor picked up a win off the basketball court last week in Orlando, Florida.
Taylor, who graduated with honors in professional sales while managing dyslexia, competed at the DECA International Career Development Conference. She and project partner Tyler Olson won first place in the collegiate competition for entrepreneurship/growing your business.
DECA’s goal, per its website, is to prepare leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in management, marketing, finance and hospitality.
Taylor returns to WSU women’s basketball next season as a graduate student and plans to begin studying in the Masters of Professional Communication program.