Janeliss Laboy is no longer just a scorer.
She’s officially a well-rounded basketball player.
Laboy is a junior shooting guard on the Frankford High School girls basketball team. She’s been playing basketball her entire life, and switched from point guard to off guard when she was in high school to take advantage of her offensive moves.
She can shoot, she can drive and she’s very good at helping her teammates find open looks.
But recently, she added lockdown defender to her resume and now she’s having just as much fun when her opponents have the ball.
“I’ve actually grown to love defense,” said Laboy, who lives in North Philly. “Even though I’m a scorer, I feel like I’m a defender now before a scorer. You have to play defense before you play offense. I actually didn’t like playing defense. It was hard for me but I got used to it and now I’m a good defender.
“I did a lot of work this summer on defense. That’s the main thing I worked on. You can be a good offensive player, but if the defense isn’t there, you’re not going to win. Our coach (Jonathan Michels) is always talking about defense. If you play for Frankford, you have to play defense, so it’s something I worked really hard on and I think I do it pretty well now. The entire team plays defense. That’s how we’re going to win.”
It’s not only how they’re going to win, it’s how they’ve been winning.
The Pioneers have seven wins on the season and have yet to be defeated. They’ve already knocked off some good teams, including Archbishop Ryan, Abraham Lincoln, Olney and MaST Charter II.
And Laboy is more than doing her part, averaging 15 points per game, just under 10 rebounds, six steals and about four assists per contest.
She also tries to help keep the team together any way she can, and now that she’s one of the leaders of the team, she’s stepped up in that department, too, although she’s always been a girl her teammates can count on.
“I’m the captain, I try to keep everyone together and make sure I’m doing my job at the same time,” Laboy said. “I officially became a captain this year, but I was kind of a captain last year. But last year, I definitely played a secondary role. I learned a lot, learning from the older girls that helped me to lead and become a better captain. I had to step up. Most captains are seniors, so it was an adjustment, but I made it work and my teammates and my coach have helped me become a better leader.”.
And the leader loves the perfect start.
Things are going to get harder and she knows that. Soon the Pioneers will do battle in the Public League. This team has goals that go far beyond preseason wins, and Laboy and her teammates are fully prepared for what’s ahead.
And more importantly, they are having fun playing winning basketball together.
“We’re really connected on and off the court. It’s a very positive group, a very hard-working group. It’s an easy team to lead for the most part. When we struggle, it gets hard, but it’s always going to be a lot easier because of how close we are. We always make it work because we’re friends and we want to win together.”
Laboy has huge goals this year.
She wants to take the Pioneers as far as they can go and she would love to hit the 1,000-point milestone sometime this season. She’s a little over 200 points away from hanging a banner.
But winning is the main goal..
“My motivation is my team, my motivation is my coach and my family,” Laboy said. “Mainly all of my family, I would say my mom supports me a lot, and my cousin, he taught me how to play basketball. He comes to the games and he supports me. I have a big support system.”
One of her biggest supporters is her coach, and Michels doesn’t have to worry if his top player is listening to him.
She always is.
“Coach tells us before any of our games, the three E’s and that stands for Effort, Energy and Enthusiasm,” said Laboy, who is also on the Frankford flag football team where she is the starting quarterback. “I have all three E’s. That’s what we strive off of, people who don’t get into games, we have so much energy from them off the bench. We never panic or stress because we all have each other.”
“I’m really excited about this group,” said Michels, who boasts eight honor roll students on his roster. “This is the hardest-working group I’ve ever had at Frankford. I feel like we have the most pieces we have had. Our guards will power our team. We return Janeliss, Zanayiah Cross and we add freshman point guard Ciara Rivera. Also contributing in the backcourt will be Anjelise Rosado, Taj Harris, Janiyah Daley and Serenity Rivera.
“We return a veteran frontline of Emma Raif and Nakyra Harris. Also contributing will be juniors Eisha Hayward, Rimirrea Turner and Saniyah Lunsford-Sing.”
