Source: M Live

Author: Justin P. Hicks / Elaine Cromie

FARMINGTON HILLS, MI -- Taylor Jones is no stranger to playing basketball at a high level.

From backyard ball with her older brothers to competing with high schools girls while in middle school, Jones has benefited from going toe to toe with more experienced players.

“I enjoyed playing with (an older crowd),” Jones said. “Playing up, you learn a lot more than playing with people your age and it makes you more aggressive. It shows you the different talent and skill levels.”

Now a 17-year-old senior captain forFarmington Hills Mercy, Jones is a leader and that leadership has the Marlins working their way back to the Breslin Center.

The 5-foot-8 guard is averaging 21 points, four assists, four rebounds and three steals per game in her final season before playing college basketball at Oakland University.

“I’m just going hard and playing every game like it’s my last,” Jones said.

Always up for the challenge

As long as Fawn Day can remember, her daughter, Jones, has been perfecting her craft.

Growing up, she wasn’t close to her sister Brianna, who is seven years older. That meant spending most of her time with her brothers, Scott and Jordan, who are three and five years older.

"She was a year old with a basketball in her hands trying to keep up with her brothers," Day said. "She always played with the boys, and I think that’s part of the reason she's so good."

Jones was the only girl on an all boys team when she began playing organized basketball in third grade at the local YMCA. Likewise, she played two seasons on a boys team at the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield.

"When I was about 3 or 4, everyone in the neighborhood would come play in the backyard and I was the only girl. And they didn’t go easy on you,” Jones said. “It helped my game and I get a lot of people saying I play ball like a guy. I don't know how to interpret that though.”

As a middle school student, Jones played summer league basketball with the girls of Northwestern High School. By the time she got to Mercy, Jones was one of the more talented freshmen on junior varsity.

Mercy‘s varsity coach, Gary Morris, said JV coach Bob Uhrin spoke highly of Jones as she made the jump to varsity as a sophomore. Within nine games, she was inserted into the starting lineup and has been there since.

“He was a veteran coach and he said to me a number of times that Taylor was an outstanding player, so he was certainly right on the mark,” Morris said. “She fit right in, and we could see she was going to be a good player as years would go by.”

Making a name for herself as a Marlin

Jones spends most of her time playing as an off-the-ball guard, though Morris said she has the ability to play point guard and sometimes takes on that role. She thrives off her ability to drive to the basket, forcing contact and often scoring in traffic.

Much like her days of youth basketball, Jones has spent the last two seasons playing with girls a year or two older than her. She was the lone sophomore starter, and then the only junior in a group of four seniors – all of whom went on to play college basketball.

Still, despite being the youngest, Jones scored 11 points per game as a sophomore and 13 as a junior, trailing only longtime friend and teammate, Candice Leatherwood.

With four of five starters graduating last year, Morris expected Jones to improve not only as a scorer, but also as a team captain.

“We told her ‘Obviously, you’re gong to lead by your play on the floor and we’re going to expect you to score but we’d like you to become more of a leader,’ and she’s taken a big step in that direction,” Morris said.

To her, being a leader meant playing like Leatherwood.

“I try to fill those shoes,” Jones said. “We played since fourth grade and our chemistry is out of this world. She controls the court and that really helped us get to the Breslin last year. She’s a great point guard and she slows me down. She controls the pace.”

This season, Jones has scored a team-high and career-high 517 points, almost doubling the 261 from her sophomore season. Her assist numbers are also up from one per game last year to four.

When MLive released its first preseason Miss Basketball watch list, Jones was left off it. She slid under the radar, but she’s used to that.

“It feels good to make the list because (the other girls) have had a lot more spotlight on them, where I’ve had to work my way in,” Jones said. “They all started on varsity and I started on JV. I didn’t get a lot of recognition until halfway through sophomore year.

“It took a lot of work to get where I am.”

Not only did she score a game-high 33 points against Goodrich that week, she put up 13 in the fourth quarter to mount a Mercy comeback and hand the Martians their only loss of the regular season.

Jones and her teammates took turns guarding Miss Basketball finalist Tania Davis throughout the game, holding her to 10 points, including three made field goals.

“We played Goodrich earlier in the year and they’re a team some are picking to win Class B and we played at our place and Taylor just played an outstanding game,” Morris said. “That game stands out for me.”

Since finishing the regular season 16-4, Mercy has won four straight playoff games, led by Jones’ 25.3 points per game. With another district title under her belt, she hopes to lead the Marlins back to the quarterfinals.

Doing so, however, means going through Bloomfield Hills Marian.

One last run at The Breslin

Jones has only been held to single-digit scoring twice this season. Both times, she recorded seven points in blowout losses to Marian.

To advance back to the Breslin Center, Mercy has to beat Class A’s No. 1 team in the regional finals. Tip-off for the game is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Southfield High School.

Jones is 1-4 in her last five games against the Catholic League champs, but the lone victory was one few around her have forgotten.

Last year, Mercy beat the Mustangs by one point on a last-second play to win the Catholic League title. With 4.2 seconds on the clock, and Mercy down 54-53, Jones stole an inbounds pass and put up a quick shot to give the Marlins their first league title since 2011.

“Those long arms, jumping and grabbing the ball and making a quick layup,” Day said. “We just watched from the bleachers and when she jumped up and caught it and put it in, it doesn’t get any better than that.”