BATON ROUGE &045; For many seniors playing in their last high school basketball game, there’s sadness and a farewell in store for something that meant so much to them for so long.

Not Monique Jones.

Thursday’s Louisiana High School Coaches’ Association All-Star game is the end of one part of Jones’ life and the official beginning of another. Jones, who signed with Baylor University before her senior season ended, will put the final stamp on a stellar career at Ferriday High School before joining a budding women’s program at Baylor under head coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson.

&uot;It truly is an honor for me. Every day I thank God that I’m one of the lucky ones,&uot; Jones said. &uot;Not many people get a chance to play (Division-1), and the Big 12 is just as competitive as the (Southeastern Conference) or the (Atlantic Coast Conference). I’ve got all the exposure I need to fulfill my dreams. Coach Robertson has really turned this program around.&uot;

Indeed she has. For the past 25 years Mulkey-Robertson was associated with the winningest program in Louisiana by coaching under Louisiana Tech head coach Leon Barmore.

Barmore had a winning percentage of .869 (576-87), including a 1988 national title, in 20 years at Louisiana Tech.

Barmore is a coaching demagogue on par with Alabama football legend Paul &uot;Bear&uot; Bryant. Yet the name you’re looking for sat alongside Barmore for many of those plus-30 win seasons.

&uot;Thirty-eight years of my life was spent in the state of Louisiana.,&uot; Mulkey-Robertson said. &uot;With the success that LSU is having and, of course, the tradition of Louisiana Tech, it’s hard to recruit there. However, they don’t get them all. Great basketball comes out of that state, and we want to stay competitive in Louisiana.

Mulkey-Robertson, a Hammond, La., native thought to be the first girl in the United States to play Little League baseball with the boys, took a huge leap toward re-establishing her name within her home state when she got Ferriday guard Monique Jones to ink with Baylor back in April.

Since Mulkey-Robertson, who still holds the national high school record for most points scored (4,075), took over a struggling program three years ago the Lady Bears have posted a 72-26 record and made the postseason each year.

After a first-round NCAA Tournament exit in 2001 and advancing to the second round in 2003, Baylor missed the dance this past year, but still managed to make it the Women’s National Invitational Tournament finals.

&uot;We may have created a monster here,&uot; joked Mulkey-Robertson, who was 266-11 as a player in high school and college. &uot;It’s a part of human nature that when you have a little success you want more of it. But as a (coaching) staff we’re more realistic. We’ll give it some time to feed it.&uot;

Time is what awaits Jones, who enrolls at Baylor still unsure of what her role will be in Waco, Texas, but eager to please.

Jones’ transition has been made somewhat manageable by taking two summer courses, sociology and study skills, on a campus that has been abuzz of late due to an apparent murder in the men’s program.

&uot;At the time I was out there I was still glad to be there even with all that was happening,&uot; Jones said of the Patrick Dennehy disappearance. &uot;I never lost focus. How could anyone ever know that was going to happen at the school I’d be at? It didn’t change my opinion of choosing Baylor. It has taught me to keep God first and be careful who you trust.&uot;

With a roster chocked full of guards, Jones knows her versatility will be tested in preseason workouts come fall.

She’s showing all the signs of a seasoned veteran with her willingness to set screens and play a different role that she was accustom to as the matinee for the Lady Trojans in her last three years.

Jones, a 5-9 guard who was named The Democrat All-Metro Player of the Year two straight seasons, averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds per game in leading the Lady Trojans to a 33-1 season.

&uot;We’re going to get her on the floor with everybody else and see where our depth is,&uot; Mulkey-Robertson pledged. &uot;You don’t recruit anyone, unless you’re a football coach, with the idea of redshirting them.&uot;

Once you watch her skills on full display &045; the handles, the long-range jumper and the pesky defense &045; it’s amazing to think Jones could ever ride anyone’s bench.

&uot;The hardest thing to adapt to is everybody is good on this level,&uot; she said. &uot;I played with some great girls at Ferriday, but at clutch times I knew the ball was going to be in my hands. Now I’ve got to make sacrifices.&uot;

But surrendering seemingly leads to better things. Mulkey-Robertson could have stayed on as an assistant in Ruston, La., for a few more years and accepted the reins of the Lady Techsters program when Barmore retired in 2002, but it would not have been her legacy.

At Baylor, the one-time Olympic gold medalist at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, is etching her 5-4 frame into more record books.

&uot;Coach has some high expectations of all of us, especially the incoming class,&uot; Jones said. &uot;She expects us to play like veterans. Looking at it on paper we’ll do that.&uot;