Tim Rippy doesn't ever have to worry about Rachel Jones' effort and intensity.
Jones, a 5-foot-5 senior guard for the Siloam Springs girls basketball team, is known for being one of the team's best hustlers and hardest workers, no matter if it's a game or a practice.
"Rachel's always given 100 percent in practice and every drill," said Rippy, Siloam Springs girls basketball coach. "That's what we, as coaches, love about her. The same Rachel that you see on Tuesday and Friday night is the same one we see every day. She's always diving and taking charges. All that happens in practice just like it does in ballgames."
Jones' effort and hustle have paid off so far in her senior season for the Lady Panthers, who played at Van Buren on Tuesday and host Conway on Friday.
She's started most games and has contributed all over the court, including averaging 5.8 points and 1.9 steals per game. She's shooting 47 percent (33 of 69) from the floor and 40 percent from behind the 3-point line (15 of 37).
Jones has been known to be more than willing to dive on the floor for a loose ball or sacrifice her body in order to help her team.
"I work really hard, go after loose balls," Jones said. "I don't really care if I get hurt or if it's a bump or a bruise as long as we get possession."
Once, during her sophomore season, Jones actually broke one of her front teeth while going after a loose ball. In that particular instance, she was playing so hard she didn't even realize she had broken a tooth until the play was actually over.
"It just felt like chalk hit me or something," Jones said. "It didn't hurt at all. I also had a lot of adrenaline going."
That type of attitude doesn't go unnoticed by coaches.
"She's really had to earn her way," Rippy said. "She's probably not the best shooter or the best ball-handler or the best anything, but she does everything to the best of her ability and she does it all the time. That makes a pretty good player.
"She's consistently good on defense. She's consistently a good rebounder. She's proven this year she's a consistently good shooter. She's really worked on her ball-handling as well where she's not near the liability she probably was last November a year ago. She's really improved that part of her game as well. She's worked her way up and has earned everything she's been given."
Jones has always been a defensive spark plug, even dating back to her ninth-grade season.
"I only played when they had a good player they needed defense on," Jones said. "I would get taken out when I made a turnover. I was not a good ball-handler back then at all."
As a sophomore and junior, Jones played significant minutes as a defensive specialist but her offense needed work.
There were times last season, Rippy recalls, that opponents would not guard Jones out on the perimeter, almost daring her to take the shot.
"I think we had a conversation back in October after practice, and she was staying late to shoot," Rippy said. "I think I remember saying, look if you can just hit the wide open ones, if you can hit two or three in a game, that would be good."
It's obvious she's put the work in.
"This year it's been confidence, and she's shooting a pretty good percentage from the outside," Rippy said. "I think she's limited and gotten rid of some of the bad ones she's taken and she's working better in the offense this year as well. She's not forcing three's. She's taking the wide-open ones and hitting a good percentage of those. I think it's mental maturity as well."
Not only is Jones having a strong senior season, she's also helping the Lady Panthers program in other areas.
Jones helps out with the seventh-grade girls basketball program as often as she can. Next year, after high school, she plans on attending John Brown University and majoring in math education, while also pursuing dreams of becoming a coach.
"Helping coach seventh grade has helped me mature as a player," Jones said. "I don't want to leave the game at all."
Sports on 01/21/2015