WEST POINT – When Dashmond Daniel began his coaching career four seasons ago at West Point High School, he quickly identified the best player on the girls’ basketball team.
Qiayon Bailey was a wide-eyed freshman. She was still learning the game but she knew how to shoot a basketball.
“From her ninth grade year, I challenged her,” Daniel said. “I knew the type of player she could become. Turns out, she challenged me as a coach, too. She really made me become a better coach. My coaching has changed a lot in the last four seasons.
“There were things I took for granted. I am a lot more laid back now. I used to be stern and strict. If you were one minute late, you were late. She has helped me grow to where I am as a coach. Kids have to believe you are fun. When I started, I was a basketball coach. It was all business and no fun. I told them I am not your friend. However, there is that area in the game where you can be fun and you can be one of them. She has taught me that. I will be grateful for that change.”
Bailey and Daniel teamed up to lead West Point to a 21-10 overall record and the second round of the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A playoffs. For this success, Bailey is being chosen today The Dispatch’s All-Area Large Schools Girls’ Basketball Co-Player of the Year, while Daniel is being honored as The Dispatch’s All-Area Large Schools Girls’ Basketball Co-Coach of the Year.
“Well this year we won 20 games and last year we barely won five games,” said Bailey, who averaged 18 points and seven rebounds per game. “So I say we had a very successful season. We made the second round of the playoffs and I learned how to become a leader. Last year, I was shy and really couldn’t take over games. This year, was different.
“I tried to encourage my teammates not because I was the best player on the team, but because I was the oldest. It was a great feeling to talk to them and to encourage them to not get down. Last year, we would have four or five players at practice. This year, everybody came. If someone was down, I would tell them that we had won 20 games and now was not the time to give up. You have to believe in yourself first and I did that this season.”
Bailey was only one of three seniors on this year’s squad and the only senior starter. Daniel was entering his third season as head coach after one season as an assistant. He knew the team had potential but he also saw the youth up and down his roster.
“We really did a great job this year,” Daniel said. “Turned out better than I had expected. I thought we grew up a lot on the court. At the beginning of the season, we made way too many turnovers. Eventually, we learned how to control tempo. That is a very big thing with a young team is learning how to control tempo. That is how you beat people. Overall, we have a lot to grow on from this season.”
While the Lady Wave turned the corner and moved into the upper echelon of Class 5A, Daniel knew such a move would be contingent on Bailey emerging as a team leader.
“You wouldn’t think that she is so shy when you see her on the court,” Daniel said. “But she is very modest but not outspoken. I told her when you are the best player on the floor, your actions trickle down to the other players on the team. She has always been first in to get dressed, first out on the court to shoot. However, we had to find that second gear in leadership.
“I pointed out other players were slower to get dressed and on the court, while she was out there shooting. Instead, you need to be on them to get ready so the team could get its work in. I have always let the captains or the seniors make up the team rules, within reason. Once she became more vocal, we really took off as a team. She realized, like it or not, how much of the leadership was going to be placed on her. That is when she knew she had to be at her best, but she had to also get others to that level.”
While Bailey learned how to become a leader, she also learned how to play against defenses designed totally to take her out of her game.
“That was the biggest challenge for me,” Bailey said “This season was different because every game teams were going to try to come up with something to stop me. I took it as a challenge to get my teammates involved. I always had a lot of confidence in them. We learned how to work together. Once we gained that trust on the court, we could be successful on most nights.”
Total buy-in is still a work in progress for Daniel. Playing for the legendary Roy Hazzle at Aberdeen High School, Daniel said 99 percent of what he does today is designed around what he learned as a player under Hazzle.
“The biggest thing Roy could do is he could get into you one minute and motivate you the next,” Daniel said. “I had never seen a coach with a 100 percent buy-in. He had that every day from every player. I feel like if I can be half the coach he was then I will be a great coach. He would always drop tidbits during the week about this particular opponent or a particular player from an opponent.
“By the time, the game rolled around you literally wanted to kill the other team. That is how focused and motivated he would have you. If you needed money, food, shoes, coach was always there for you. I am trying to be a father figure to these girls like that. We are a team and we are family.”
Now Bailey leaves this family to play for another one, signing to play at Meridian Community College in the fall. She grew up around the game, with mother Qiana and several cousins helping push her to the next level.
“I have played the game since seventh grade and always loved it,” Bailey said. “The thing with Coach Daniel I learned is that he will never give up on you no matter how bad it gets. He taught me how to work hard and how to never give up. That is what I liked most about playing for him.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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