The News-Gazette's 49th All-State girls' basketball team: Player of the Year Jones handles high expectations, thrives in spotlight

But for Jones to reach the highs of her senior year on the basketball court the now 18-year-old had to first experience the lows of her junior year.

Road to recovery

A torn ACL cost Jones the majority of her entire junior season at Naperville Central. Her first major injury of an sort in her basketball career. All part of a "roller-coaster" ride and recovery that Jones said remains an "ongoing process."

But Jones' senior season began with her college decision made after she committed to Clemson last October with LSU, Tennessee and UCLA among her other finalists. That put some things to rest — at least for the time being — and Jones didn't disappoint on the court, either.

There was, of course, those aforementioned early-season games when Jones re-wrote the single-game school scoring record. Still, the one game Nussbaum said he remembers as much as any other was when Jones went off for 40 points, including 36 points in the second half, to rally the Redhawks from a 22-point deficit for a 77-74 comeback win against Maine South in the Komaromy Classic championship game in late December at Dundee-Crown.

Jones led Naperville Central to a 26-7 record, which ended with a 62-50 loss against Waubonsie Valley in a 4A sectional semifinal game, and collected plenty of individual accolades. She won Ms. Basketball honors in the state, while logging time with Team USA at the Nike Hoops Summit and also participated in the Jordan Brand Classic.

"Honestly, it's been a roller coaster," Jones said. "I am so grateful for all of the accolades that I got this year. I do feel like they were well-earned. I do know that I have been through a lot with my ACL (injury), and it's an ongoing process physically and mentally.

"I still don't feel (100 percent) like myself (after the injury). But I would say I am lot more comfortable with everything that I do. Obviously, I am a lot stronger than I was before the injury. It's a mental process of just telling yourself, 'Hey, it's OK, you can go for a rebound. You can jump stop again. You can do a layup.' It goes back to my family really helping me stay grounded and telling me I can do these things, as well."

Finding her new home

One last matter of business, however, had to be handled this spring. Jones reopened her recruitment after decommitting from Clemson and ultimately got her release from the Tigers to pursue other schools in early April.

Jones said Clemson and her "parted ways but in a good way."

That restarted a recruitment that ramped up quickly, but Jones ultimately circled back to a familiar face. Maryland coach Brenda Frese was the first coach to offer Jones a scholarship when she was in seventh grade. Jones visited the Maryland campus on April 15 and committed eight days later on April 23.

On the day it became official that Jones would become a Terrapin, Frese described landing the five-star guard/forward — the last remaining uncommitted player in the Class of 2026 after Tacoma (Wash.) forward Oliviyah Edwards picked South Carolina — as a "full-circle moment five years in the making."

"She saw that potential in me (as a seventh-grader)," Jones said of Frese. The Naperville native is one of two five-star players headed to Maryland in the 2026 class, joining Washington, D.C., guard Jordyn Jackson.

"The fact that somebody could see potential in you that young when you don't even see that potential in yourself, I think that meant a lot to me," Jones continued. "It just shows that my hard work and my dedication really does pay off and there's so much more that I want to accomplish in life, and if I keep on the right track, like I have been, then the sky is the limit."

Future possibilities

That's where Nussbaum comes in, too, in evaluating what's possible for Jones in the future.

And the longtime Naperville Central coach with 700-plus wins isn't shy in how he regards Jones as one of the best players he's ever coached.

"Candace and Trinity are 1 and 1A," Nussbaum said. "It's certainty unfair to compare because they played in different eras. What an incredible amount of pressure to have gone to the same high school that Candace Parker went to, and I thought Trinity handled it great. Candace was really the beginning of the big kids who can play outside and dribble and shoot. ... Now, we see Trinity playing like that."

And Nussbaum is eager to see what his latest star player can do at Maryland. And perhaps beyond her college basketball career.

"My saying is always impressed by not surprised," Nussbaum said. "I know I will be impressed, but I won't be necessarily surprised by what she's able to accomplish. I can't wait to see what she accomplishes in college, and it's a good bet that she's going to the league."