Bowling Green point guard McKinley Seal has signed a letter of intent to attend the University of Mobile and play basketball for the Lady Rams.

“Mobile is a really good four-year college,” Seal said. “They offer a lot of what I’m looking for, within medical school and such.”

Seal, who has a 4.0 grade-point average, will be a pre-med major and wants to be a pediatrician.

She said she likes the meal plan and said the dorms are pretty nice.

“It just felt like home when you stepped on campus,” Seal said.

Seal said she’s excited about her decision.

“I’m really excited. I’m actually ready to get up there, but we’ve got one year left and I plan on hopefully coming home with a championship,” Seal said.

Over the last three years, Bowling Green has finished as the state runner-up.

Last year, Seal averaged 7.6 points per game to go with 4.4 assists and 3.3 steals, over 39 games played and 36 starts.

Besides team accomplishments, Seal has had individual accolades along the way. She has been a first-team all-district player in each of her three seasons, All South State the last two seasons, All-State her freshman and junior years and she made the All-MAIS Team last year.

Bowling Green girls’ first-year head coach and Seal’s father Barry Seal, who was one of the team’s assistants for the past five years, said McKinley’s ball-handling skills have opened her game up tremendously.

“I think McKinley is a growing player,” Barry Seal said. “I think she is getting stronger her last two years. With her being a true right-handed person, but I trained her starting in third grade to shoot left-handed, has really made her a special player. I think that is where people can’t figure her out and makes her dangerous.”

Coach Seal said his daughter’s ability to shoot left-handed has really gotten better and her penetration of how to get around people with ball-handling skills has gotten stronger as she’s gained confidence.

Last season, the University of Mobile had a 16-15 record and reached the quarterfinal round of the Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament.

Mobile coach Billy Evans, who is entering his fifth season with the Lady Rams, said he has three guards graduating after this season and really thinks that Seal will step in and contribute right away.

“My expectations of her are to battle for a starting spot,” Evans said. “If she doesn’t, I’ll be shocked. When I recruited her, I told her that. I said I need a point guard. I don’t have a true point guard coming back next year and so I expect her to come in and compete for that spot.”

Evans said he likes the fact that Seal is versatile, can shoot the ball and play the two-guard spot.

“I like a point guard that can score,” Evans said. “When recruiting her, I was seeing the other college coaches say the same things I was saying — she passes the ball, she sees the open player, but she can score. In this day in age, when you hear everybody say they’re a combo guard, there’s only a few true combo guards and she is a true combo guard.

“She can score and she can handle the point guard position and direct the offense and that’s what I want. I fully expect her to be able to do that. To understand what I want and do it.”

Evans said his team has five talented freshmen, but none of them are point guards, and so Seal could have a big responsibility for his team.

“She’s got the confidence to do it,” he said. “I’m excited about it. She could probably step in and play for me right now. I really do think so.”

Bowling Green opened the season yesterday in the East Rankin Tournament and continues play in the event tomorrow.

The Lady Bucs’ first home game takes place Saturday, Nov. 12, against Madison-Ridgeland Academy.