Ganado’s McIntosh accepts point-guard duties

By Barbara Boxleitner
Special to the Times

GANADO

A change in position hasn’t kept Jayla McIntosh from excelling for the Bacone College (Okla.) women’s basketball team.

This fall the Ganado High graduate played point guard when the starting point guard was injured.

“It was pretty difficult in the beginning,” said the sophomore, a shooting guard in high school. “I did struggle, figuring out what my strength is.”

As the leader of the offense, she has had to dribble more, initiate plays and direct teammates, duties that were challenging when opponents used a press defense.

“There was a lot of miscommunications,” she said. “It was kind of hard.”

Although Bacone played 19 games, the Continental Athletic Conference did not have its complete statistics online to begin this week.

Through stats for 11 games, though, she was the lone Warrior to start every game and was first in minutes played per game.

She led the team with 2.8 assists per game but also led in turnovers per game, the latter a result of her adjustment to ball handling.

She had five assists and just two turnovers during a one-point loss to Arlington Baptist.

“I’m gaining experience dribbling and seeing the court more open,” said the 5-foot-5 McIntosh, who had 12 points and eight rebounds in the setback.

Her 11.1 points per game ranked second on the team. She scored at least 10 in nine games.

“It’s more of mid-range jumpers,” she said about her scoring. “It is the encouragement my teammates gave me. She (coach) just puts confidence in me. She is very encouraging like that.”

Her season high of 22 points came against Langston, when she led players from both teams in scoring, and added a team-high nine rebounds.

She also led players from both teams with 19 points against Champion Christian, when she had a team-high seven rebounds.

“She’s a good inside shooter,” Bacone head coach Tera Cuny-Baker said. “Offensively she goes for the ball. She’s gotten a lot of putbacks.

“She gets a lot of fast breaks because she’s so quick,” she said.

McIntosh averaged 7.1 rebounds per game, second on the squad. She had a season-high 16 rebounds, which led all players, and 10 points against Haskell. She had 13 rebounds and 13 points in an earlier game against Haskell.

“She’s such a hard worker,” the coach said. “She had 16 rebounds. That’s really hard for a guard to do. She has so much energy.”

When Bacone is in a zone defense, McIntosh positions at the top of the key to cover the point guard. In a man alignment, she covers one of the best scorers – as she said she did during high school – because the coach said, “I know she is fast enough.”

McIntosh does her best to keep the scorer in front of her.

The coach “always tells me to focus on her and be aware of where she’s at,” she said. “Stop her from scoring.”

Because she was a cross-country runner in high school, that experience has given her the endurance to cover the court. But she is using agility drills to improve her lateral movement.

“I do have to work on my mobility skills and my strength training,” she said.

The team resumes action Tuesday, when she will try to continue playing at a high level.

“It is satisfying,” she said. “In the end I think my mission is honoring God, playing for Him, playing for my team, for my tribe.”

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