Jones back on the basketball court

It has been a few months since Bahamian top female basketball player Jonquel “JJ” Jones was last competing on the court. She is back in the other professional league that she competes in, in Yekaterinburg, Russia, playing for UMMC Ekaterinburg. They won 84-72 over Zyrianochka Syktyvkar, on the road, in Russia’s Women’s Premier League on Tuesday night.

It was a strong season debut for Jones as she scored as much points as her jersey’s number, a game-high 35 points. On the glass, the center pulled down 13 rebounds to complete a double-double. She even showed her passing skills, dishing out five assists. On the defensive side, Jones had two blocks.

The Grand Bahamian played 32 minutes on the night and was able to shoot 13-of-19 from the field for a 68.4 percent clip. She was also able to split a pair of shots from behind the three-point line.

After Syktyvkar led 13-10 midway through the first quarter, and Jones and Ekaterinburg went on an 8-0 run to go up 18-13. They ended the first quarter ahead 24-19.

It was a back-and-forth second quarter but Ekaterinburg went into the intermission up 43-38. From there, they never relinquished the lead, leading by as much as 17 points late in the fourth quarter to cruise to the win.

It was a brilliant opening game for Jones who has played for the same team the past two seasons. Last season, they went undefeated with a 20-0 win-loss record.

Ekaterinburg will return to action on October 11 against Dynamo Moscow.

Jones showed no signs of rust after missing the entire 2020 Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) season. The Connecticut Sun star player chose to sit out the season, going back to her home base on Grand Bahama because of the novel coronavirus that was rampant in the United States.

The Sun had a tough start to the season in the “bubble” at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, dropping their first five games of the season. They managed to finish the regular season with a 10-12 record without Jones, earning a playoff spot in as the seventh best team in the league.

In the playoffs, they advanced all the way to the semifinals against the Las Vegas Aces. They lost that series 3-2, suffering a devastating 66-63 game five loss.

The Seattle Storm won the WNBA Championship series with a sweep of the Aces in the final.

The previous season, Jones and the Sun were one game shy of winning the WNBA title, falling short to the Washington Mystics. The Sun added DeWanna Bonner to their roster earlier this year and was looking to win it all, but the COVID-19 pandemic became rampant on this side of the world in March and Jones wasn’t taking any chances.

That same season, Jones finished third place in Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award voting. The Bahamian was instrumental that season with 14.6 points and 9.7 rebounds per contest. On the defensive side, she recorded career highs in blocks and steals, averaging 2.0 blocks and 1.2 steals per game.

It is a great start for Jones in Russia as she looks to use the Russia Premier League to get into game shape for the 2021 WNBA season. If the first game is any indication of what she will look to do next season, then Sun fans will have a lot to be excited about.

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