If you’re a top-shelf high school athlete, the scouts are ultimately going to find you.

Still, a little extra exposure never hurt anybody.

That’s the thinking of Gabrielle Jones, at least.

The rising senior standout point guard for Temple High School hopes to get plenty of that from the college coaching lenses next week when she heads north to compete with Team Georgia at the USA Junior Nationals International Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio, from Monday through Sunday.

Jones will be one of 24 girls on Team Georgia at the week-long tournament, which is an invite-only affair.

Jones recently competed at the USA Junior Nationals all-state high school basketball competition at Georgia Tech where she impressed quite a few coaches, something her own coach is hopeful continues next week.

“I think this will be a great step for her, great exposure,” Lady Tigers basketball coach Donna Johnson said. “I’m sure there’ll be a lot of college coaches there in that arena and it will be a good opportunity for her to get some eyes look at her.”

Jones said she knows a few girls on her team from the Georgia Tech competition and AAU ball in past years and can’t wait to get to the festival, although she is a little concerned about making a good impression while she’s there.

“I’m pumped,” Jones said. “I’ve got to make sure I capitalize on everything and try not to make any mistakes. Because, you know, colleges will be watching, so you’ve got to impress them because there’s going to be a whole lot of other people out there.”

Jones plays an exciting brand of basketball at the prep level.

As more of a slashing type of point guard, she can slice and dice her way around defenders to the cup instead of having to rely on her jump shot or live beyond the arc all game as some guards tend to do nowadays.

She’s not afraid of contact and doesn’t mind getting down and dirty. She always bounces back up, as evidenced by some of her past tribulations on the hardwood.

Johnson said the one area Jones will have to work on next season, however, is becoming more of a vocal leader.

Because while Jones’ game speaks for itself, Johnson wants her point guard to lead in more ways than just sound play.

“She will be my main ball control girl and I just believe that she’s got to establish a leadership mind and be the kind of vocal leader out there that our team needs,” Johnson said. “She’s going to have to be more vocal and Gabrielle has always been the type of player that shows her leadership through her play, but in that position you’ve got to be more vocal.”

One thing Johnson certainly doesn’t have to worry about is Jones’ heart, toughness and overall passion for the game.

After all, this is a girl that played with a torn ACL her sophomore season, even when her parents begged her to stop and her coach was worried she wouldn’t make it through the season.

Jones simply wouldn’t let anyone - or any ailment - take her off the court. Every time she went down, she found a way to get back up.

“She’s probably one of the very few that’s able to tear an ACL and play through the season,” Johnson said. “She braced it up and just played through it. There was one or two times throughout the season that she went down that I didn’t think she would finish the season, but she has the heart of a lion and she was bound and determined.”

Jones said despite her parents’ understandable feelings of concern and caution, she ultimately had the last say in that argument.

“Once they saw me crying, they know that basketball’s my passion, so they were just like, ‘As long as you don’t get hurt, just try not to hurt it any worse,’” Jones said.

And from a former standout athlete in her own right, Johnson gained plenty of respect for Jones’ gutsy effort with the way she handled herself that season.

“She was just so distraught over it, (her parents) just couldn’t make her do it,” Johnson said. “So it’s that kind of heart that’s going to make Gabrielle strong in college.”

Jones didn’t have any problems with the knee last season during her junior campaign and maintains a strenuous training regiment year-round, as she also is one of the top track and field athletes at Temple.

“She’s been in the weight room and very active this summer,” Johnson said. “She ran track and she was very successful in track, so it’s not like she just sat around and hasn’t done anything. When basketball season is over, she went into track and has continued throughout the summer. I think that will really help her throughout her senior season.”

Before that, though, Jones will continue her summer basketball tour, hitting the Midwest this time for some round ball action.

Along with the exposure that comes with these tournaments, the other positive is that Jones gets to compete against other highly talented athletes as opposed to some of the pick-up style of games the normal high school summer schedule allots.

Johnson said getting used to playing against athletes that were just as good - or better - than you was one of the hardest parts of the transition period from high school to college athletics when she played.

“Everybody in college, I recognized right off, everybody was just like me,” she said. “They were on a very high level and you’ve got to pick up your level if you want to stay there.”

So now, just a little over a year and a half since Jones’ mother was telling her to take it easy on the court, she’s encouraging her to follow her dreams, go for the gusto and pursue her passion.

“(My mom) was like, ‘It can’t make your college chances any worse,’ so I just went with it,” Jones said of heading to compete in Ohio next week.

And as she streaks up and down the court next week in Columbus, you can bet the college eyes will be on this Tiger.

“I really think it’s a great honor for her,” Johnson said. “I talked to her previously several weeks ago and just asked her what she had in mind once graduation was here and was she interested in playing college ball and she said, ‘Yes I am,’ and so I said, ‘What are you willing to do to make that happen?’ and she said, ‘Mrs. Johnson, I’ll do anything. I want to play college basketball.’”