Sophomore guard Aaliyah Youngblood is showing off an incredible performance for the Mustangs basketball team in her last season at Delta. The team is currently sitting at an 18-4 record, with six games left until the playoffs.
On Dec. 23, 2025, Delta’s women’s basketball Instagram page announced that Aaliyah has committed to Indiana State University.
So far during the season, Youngblood has started every one of the Mustangs’ 22 games, resulting in 12 more starts than she had last season.
Youngblood is currently averaging 17.4 points, 45.5 field goal percentage, 72.6 Free throw percentage, 2.0 rebounds and 30.4 three-point percentage per game.
Coach Gina Johnson provided a well-detailed analysis of Aaliyah’s game as a whole, which helps the team improve as the season progresses.
“Early on in the season including in the preseason, when she got that student athlete of the month or whatever, her offensive game really improved this past year. She put a lot of time in personally training and getting her footwork together. She plays now very fluidly, like she can attack the rim to score and avoid defense,” said Coach Johnson
Johnson also mentioned that Aaliyah has started to improve on her defense from last year.
I asked Aaliyah how much work she puts in outside of her practices.
“I would say that there’s a lot more room for improvement, like how much work I put in but I’ll say I’m pretty active like even when I have offdays like I’m still in the gym like I make sure I get at least one day, like on a weekend so I feel like I’m never sitting still,” said Youngblood
Youngblood then explained the reason why she chose to play basketball and who gave her that drive to get better at it.
“ My brother played, and then I was seeing how my dad was training with him and I kinda just wanted to try it out, see if I like it, and now I’m stuck with it. But pretty much my dad motivated me he’s the one that kept pushing me to get better,” said Youngblood
I asked Aaliyah’s teammate, Mia Warren, about how she and Aaliyah work so well together on the court.
“So, Aaliyah, she’s just a hard worker. She comes in before practice, getting extra reps. She helps us a lot, big time, on offense and defense with playing the top row, which is a lot of work. She’s always active when I look to pass it to her, or she looks to pass it to me, it’s like our connections are really good, and that’s like with everyone on the court,” said Warren
