Her absence leaves quite the void.

The prep girls hoops season gets underway this week across the state and locally Walled Lake Western took a crushing blow when the Warriors lost all-league guard Jayla Nichols, their best player and one of the top backcourt performers in the area, who transferred to Romulus.

Nichols is a  still-budding bulldog junior floor general with a killer handles, natural diming-ability and a sniper-like pull-up 'J' off the dribble that she consistently sticks in the half court set and in transition. She simply radiates on the hardwood every time she has the ball in her hands, breaking down the opposition with nifty moves and her hard-nosed mentality.

At Western, Nichols was a two-year starter, twice tapped all-league – both her freshman and sophomore campaigns.

To say she was instrumental to the Warriors success is an understatement.

As a fab frosh, she scored 13 points and dished out 3.5 assists a night. Then last season, she elevated her game and was pumping in 16 points and five assists per outing.

Here's hoping that Western can rebound from the departure (due to Nichols' dad getting a job down by the airport and the family moving).....Burney thinks they can!!!