VC’s Ashailee Brailey signs with Jones County Junior College

An unlikely friendship resulted in Vermilion Catholic’s Ashailee Brailey continuing her basketball career at Jones County Junior College in Ellisville, Mississippi.
The All-State guard signed a letter of intent to join coach Missy Bilderback, who was named the head coach of the Lady Bobcats April 29.
“It was random actually,” Brailey said of the start of her relationship with Bilderback. “We’ve been friends on Facebook for like a year or two; she was a high school coach at the time. She told me she would be getting the head coaching position and I was in.”
The senior was friends with one of Bilderback’s players at Presbyterian Christian School (PCS) in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, who competed against Brailey on the AAU level.
“My friend was tagged in a bunch of pictures with the coach and I was like ‘wow, that’s a really good coach over there at PCS,” she said. “It’s meant to be because of that. We definitely crossed paths at one point. I felt like it was the right decision.”
Brailey, coming off a senior year in which she averaged 24 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals per game to receive Class 1A All-State First Team honors.
With the bevy of accomplishments she has earned Brailey, said she had other offers to play basketball, but felt comfortable starting her college basketball career in the junior college circuit.
“I had different offers, but as a player, I just wanted to develop myself before I went to Division I,” Brailey admitted. “I’d rather develop myself and play a year or two in the junior college circuit.”
Aside from a healthy relationship with Bilderback, Brailey said Jones’ campus attracted her with its size­—and the only other obvious thing an athlete would like —location of the Taco Bell.
“I was surprised because most of the time when you think of a junior college, you think small, but this was actually big,” she said. “It looked like a university and there’s a Taco Bell right behind the gym, so I’m excited about that.”
VC head basketball coach Kim Guidry has known Brailey since Brailey attended Maltrait Memorial Catholic School in Kaplan and Guidry said it meant a lot to her that Brailey and fellow senior Kaylen Collins have both committed to play basketball at the next level.
“When their coming up, you really don’t know them until you have a year of coaching them and then you realize how good of a kid you have,” Guidry said. “Both of them have great character and are hard workers. No matter what we were to accomplish, we were excited to have them and they became great team leaders. She (Brailey) has matured into a great team leader and I think she will do a hell of a job where ever she goes.”