‘I just like seeing them smile’: Olentangy Berlin's Layla Merriweather enjoying record-breaking year
Saturday, February 3, 2024
By Michael Rich
mrich@cbussports.com
Olentangy Berlin senior Layla Merriweather, the squad’s leading scorer, will continue her basketball career at Wheeling University next season. Photo: John Hulkenberg
Layla Merriweather recognizes the strong correlation between success and fun. The senior guard is having a lot of fun and that’s led to a record-breaking season for the Olentangy Berlin girls basketball team.
The Bears have already tied the program record in wins at 13-6 overall and have more than held their own in a stacked OCC-Cardinal Division at 4-5 overall tied for third with Dublin Jerome behind Olentangy (9-0) and Marysville (7-2).
“I think in my junior year, I was like, ‘Oh, O.K., let me focus on the sport’ and I wasn’t having as much fun as I wanted to,” said Merriweather, who is averaging 16.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.9 steals and 1.7 assists through Berlin’s first 18 games, leading the team in the first three categories. “But this year, I got emotional and I was like, ‘Just have fun each day and not focus too much. Just have fun with my teammates.’
“Just seeing the smile on their faces made me want to do it even more. So, I do crazy dance moves in the middle of nowhere or I send them videos of me doing Tik Tok with my friends. I just like seeing them smile. So, I think having fun is really important when playing basketball.”
Merriweather entered the season holding the program’s single-game scoring record with Jessica Nation at 26 points. She’s since broken that mark with 27 points in a 63-41 win over Mount Vernon on Dec. 19. Her seven 3-pointers in that game is also a program record besting Mia Raines’ six from last season.
Olentangy Berlin’s Layla Merriweather shoots a free throw against visiting Buckeye Valley Jan. 30. Photo: John Hulkenberg
Merriweather also holds program records in 3-pointers in a season (49) and steals in a game (seven in a 61-45 win over Delaware on Dec. 12).
“She’s just a fun girl,” third-year coach Brock Cunningham said. “She is a competitor through and through. Her will to win is beyond compare. She just wants to go out and give everything she has to help the team win. Her first step getting to the rim – I coached 17 years with the boys and I’ve never seen anything like it. She’s really become a combo scorer now.
“As fierce of a competitor as she is on the court, she is just a sweet, loveable girl off the court too. (It) makes everyone want to root for her even more.”
Berlin won 13 of its first 15 games and have four more chances to break the record, hosting Westerville Central on Feb. 6 before road games at Marysville on Feb. 9 and Upper Arlington on Feb. 16.
The Bears are projected by the MaxPreps RPI to be the 15-seed out of 48 teams in Division I in the Central District and are likely to host a tournament game when the draw happens on Feb. 4. Berlin, which opened in 2018, has never gone beyond the second round.
Through 18 games, sophomore Aubrey Bashore is averaging 11.4 points and junior Cami Elliott is averaging 9.7 points per game. Elliott leads the team with 4.5 assists per game and adds 1.9 steals and Bashore is averaging 4.6 rebounds per game.
Olentangy Berlin’s Layla Merriweather looks to pass against visiting Buckeye Valley on Jan. 30. Photo: John Hulkenberg
Elliott’s 81 assists this season is also a program record.
“We’ve had an incredible season,” Cunningham said. “But there’s a big thing coming – that second season. Hopefully we can make some noise with that too.”
Merriweather is from California, but has lived in North Carolina and Japan before moving to Delaware before middle school. Her father, Jarius, was in the United States Marine Corps.
Merriweather played several sports growing up, including cheerleading and soccer. But she fell in love with basketball when she joined the Berkshire Middle School program in the seventh grade.
“I’ve been able to meet new people and build new connections,” Merriweather said. “Even though I was sad to move, I think it was a new opportunity to be a better person. In Japan, I was a little shy because of the environment. In North Carolina, people were louder and more extroverted than in Japan. So, when I moved from Japan, I learned how to be an extrovert.”
She’s committed to play collegiately at Wheeling, a Division II school in West Virginia where she plans to major in communications.
“I think Wheeling University is getting a really special player,” Cunningham said. “She’s something fun to watch and I think she’s going to make an impact there.”
Photo: John Hulkenberg