NATCHEZ — Bailey Boyd plays beyond her years.

Confidently dribbling the basketball up the court, the Adams County Christian School point guard looks as comfortable as ever, with control of the team at her fingertips.

“Running the point is tough,” ACCS head coach Melanie Hall said. “The ball has to be in your hand and you have to be able to communicate with your teammates.”

But most impressively, Boyd is just a freshman.

“Last year she was just the junior high point guard,” Hall said. “She wasn’t a point guard on the high school level, so this is brand new to her.”

However, Boyd has made the transition with ease, learning from her experience in the past.

“I’ve been doing it since AYA, this is just my first year in high school,” she said. “And it helps I’ve been playing with my teammates since the third and fourth grade.”

Boyd admitted that being in control of everything comes with pressure, but said she enjoys being able to set up her teammates.

“I feel a little bit of pressure, but it is fun because you get to handle the ball and pass it to your teammates,” she said. “It is great, because I know if I pass to my teammates, they are going to catch the ball.”

Boyd also excels on the defensive end of the floor, where she spearheads a dangerous ACCS full-court press.

“She is a very confident player, very feisty,” Hall said. “If you take from her once, she is coming back after you. You’re not going to do it again. She’s got a lot of grit to her.”

Boyd credits constant practice to her success on defense.

“All of our agilities that we do give me quick feet,” she said. “We do a lot of defensive drills, too.”

Most important for Boyd’s game though, is handling the basketball.

“I’ve watched the high school team do it for years, and thought one day I would be out there,” she said. “So I just kept watching them and learning more things from them.”

Now, the ball is in Boyd’s hands for nearly every offensive possession for the Lady Rebels.

Off to a hot start to the year, Boyd hopes that she can help lead her team to back on a run towards the state title.

“We’ve been playing together for years now,” she said. “And I feel like this year, we are going to go far.”