Instead, she was thinking about Bill Murray.
The 14-year-old from New Orleans, Louisiana, won the 2021 crown after correctly spelling murraya -- a type of tree -- that she associated with the famous comedian.
When she realized she won, Zaila gave a little spin and jumped in the air as confetti rained from the sky.
"It felt really good to win because I have been working on it for like two years. So to actually win the whole thing was like a dream come true," she told CNN's "New Day" on Friday. "I felt like in the moment I snapped out of a surreal dream."