Published: June 26, 2009 08:40 pm         

Jones: Summer time to evaluate

Don’t blame Enid girls basketball coach Layne Jones if he doesn’t want to see another game for awhile.

Jones’ Pacers have gone through a busy June, hosting a summer league for predominately smaller school teams and playing 14 games earlier this week at the recently-concluded Frontier Team Camp.

“Our girls got a good workout,’’ Jones said with a smile.

The Pacers played without forward Ty Washington, the team’s only returning senior.

They are already having to replace three other starters — Aly Seng, Dysyan Malone and Janeka Perry as well as key reserves Jessica and Justine Kodesh.

Jones used the summer time for evaluation. Oklahoma Secondary School Activities rules prohibit regularly-scheduled practices, but do permit teams one summer and two camps or two summer leagues and one camp.

“We don’t have a lot of structure right now,’’ Jones said. “We have a lot of girls who are doing multiple things and it’s hard to get everybody on the right page.’’

Parents were able to drive the girls who are playing softball this summer back and forth from the Frontier camp. Jones was especially appreciative of that so he could get a look at his two-sport players.

“Whether you like it or not, summer is the prime time for evaluation,’’ Jones said. “Some girls can put themselves ahead of others when the season starts because of what they do in the summer. They need to make the commitment and get involved in the activities. The softball parents were great about this.’’

The Pacers, Jones said, “have a long ways to go, but when the season rolls around we will know what we need to work on and what we have to do to improve.’’

Those areas of improvement include blocking out and ballhandling. With 5-foot-10 Haley Rasp being the team’s biggest player, the former will be especially important, Jones said. Blocking out was a weakness at times for the Pacers.

“We weren’t worried about the scoreboard,’’ said Jones, whose team won the Division II Tournament at Frontier. “We just wanted to improve.’’

Junior guard Rani Melvin, the only returning starter at the camp, played well as did Regan Crowl, key reserve off the bench last season.Rasp showed some development inside while Baily Jones made progress.

Sophomore Esther DeClerck “showed some good things.’’ Freshmen Courtney Chelf might have put herself in position for some playing time as did Taylor Douglas, another freshman.

Jones used a lot of different combinations to evaluate which five worked the best together.

His No. 1 priority is to replace the scoring left behind by the graduation of Seng (17.9), Malone (15.2) and Perry (4.9). The Pacers have shown balanced scoring in the summer so far.

“Our strength is going to be pushing the ball up the floor and trying to shoot layups, whether it’s off rebounds or turnovers,’’ Jones said. “We have some quick girls that do a good job of getting the ball up the court in a hurry. When we do those things, we can be a good basketball team.’’

Jones said the Frontier camp was good for bonding. Assistant Robb Mills helped Jones transport players to Stillwater for a movie and other activities.

“It’s more important for the girls to bond than anything else,’’ he said.

Jones will have an open gym during July. While he can’t give formal instruction, he can give them a workout to follow.

“I’m glad we had a better turnout than last year,’’ he said about the off-season workouts. “Maybe next summer we can take another step in the right direction.’’

Jones said his coaching staff should remain intact. He knows of no transfers yet who might be joining the team for the 2009-10 season.