TAMPA, Fla. - It might look like warmups.

But for Plant High’s Nyla Jean, it's setting the table.

And soon, it will be time to feast.

“I dish, I eat last,” Jean said. “So my teammates eat first and then I can eat.”

The senior point guard’s unselfish approach to the game has helped the Plant Panthers ascend to one of the top programs in Florida.

“I’ve billed her as the best point guard in the state now for a few years and I think most people would believe us at this point,” Plant girls basketball head coach Carrie Mahon said. “She’s the entire package.”

Nyla’s equal parts speed and athleticism and high hoops IQ. Combined with an uncanny vision of the court, she sets the tone with every dribble, every pass and every basket.

“Physically, I’ve never seen anybody defend like Nyla does,” Mahon said. “She’s also there on help side. She’s just doing everything defensively that you’d ask of a player. And offensively, she’s a one-man wrecking crew.”

As Nyla goes, so goes the Plant Panthers. And she sets the bar high. The Lady Panthers don’t make it to the Class 7A state championship game last year without Nyla. And if they get there again this year, she’s a big reason why.

“She’s become so much more vocal with us,” Mahon said. “She’s so much more confident in what she has to say and in the way that she can lead this team.

“And the amazing thing is, she’s a senior, she’s got a Division I basketball scholarship in her future and she comes to practice every day to get better.”

After a historic run last season, Plant fell in the 7A championship game, a loss that lingered and motivated the team.

“We just don’t want to feel that way again that we felt last year,” Jean said.

There’s a noticeable difference from last season’s state runner-up team.

“The chemistry that we have on and off the court, we’re always together,” Jean said. “At practice, we’re going hard and we’re just, we’re family.”

Nyla and her Plant teammates are hoping the family that plays together, wins together.

“We’ve just got each other’s back,” Mahon said. “We’re working for each other. And we really don’t care who gets the credit at the end.

“I truly hope that we’re blessed enough to have three more games.”