Johnston girls basketball's Aaliyah Riley stands out on an already star-studded squad

Johnston's girls basketball team boasts one of the most talented rosters in Iowa.

There’s junior guard Aili Tanke, who is already committed to play basketball at Iowa State. Emma Hampton – committed to Iowa for soccer – is another constant contributor and Molly Noelck is one of the Dragons’ best shooters.

And let’s forget about freshman Jenica Lewis, who racked up over 20 Division I offers before playing a single minute of high school basketball.

So sometimes, it’s easy for other players to get lost in the shuffle.

Athletes like Aaliyah Riley.

The 5-foot-8 junior is one of Johnston’s undisputed starters and the type of player who does a bit of everything on the court. She averaged 10.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game, as of Monday.

Riley was a starter last season as a sophomore when the Dragons won the Class 5A state title with an undefeated record. She carved out a space for herself, despite playing alongside senior stars Jada Gyamfi and Anna Gossling.

More:Meet Jenica Lewis, Iowa's 8th-grade basketball prodigy who already has 18 college offers

“The seniors from last year, they taught me a lot and how to lead the team when they left,” Riley told the Des Moines Register. “They gave me a good experience, taught me how to do certain things and they just gave me a lot of good advice. Even to this day, they help me.”

She had one of the better field goal percentages (52.8%) among Johnston’s starters. Riley can score, steal and rebound with the best of them, but that isn’t even what sets her apart from her teammates and the competition.

Riley is the type of player who just wants to win, and if that means helping her teammates succeed, she’ll do whatever it takes. That might be why she led the Dragons with 93 assists last season and is on her way to doing the same thing this year.

“I like to give my teammates the ball, more than anything,” Riley said. “That’s my favorite thing to do. I just like seeing my teammates score. I don’t think it always has to be like one person scoring.”

But anyone who knows Riley – or has seen her play in person – understands that this isn’t new.

She stood out even as a freshman. In her first year of high school basketball, Riley was the fourth-highest scorer on Johnston’s squad and had the fourth-most rebounds. She was the top Dragons player in two categories by the end of the season: assists (51) and steals (29).

So yeah, Riley is the type of teammate most coaches would want on their roster, and she has been for quite some time.

“Aaliyah’s a key component for us,” said Johnston coach Chad Jilek after the Dragons’ season opener. “You can see when you put her on the other (team’s) point guard, usually (she) can’t do much. So, she stars on defense.

“Sometimes, she doesn’t get a lot of opportunities to score. We have so many other scorers out there. But she handles the ball and sees the floor so well, she can get to the basket, she attacks the middle and usually makes the right pass. She just has a high basketball IQ.”

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The real question now is if, amid her junior year of high school, Riley’s talents have attracted the attention of coaches at the next level.

Easy answer: Yes.

“I’m actually going on a Drake visit in December,” Riley said. “I have some others, but I don’t like to talk about that yet, because I don’t really know how I feel about all the other ones yet.”

And that’s the thing, she still has another year and a half of high school basketball left to play. So, if Riley is already on Drake’s radar, there is a good chance she’s at least getting some good looks from other mid-major programs, at a minimum.

But there is plenty of high school basketball left for Riley to play, and her plan is to just take everything one day at a time.

Besides, she already has one coveted state title on her resume. And she's only a junior.

Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Johnston basketball's Aaliyah Riley stands out on star-studded squad