It's not often that a point guard leads a team in rebounding. Then again, it's not often you face a basketball player as versatile as Skaneateles' Caryn Crary.

The junior leads the Lakers is nearly every statistical category including points (13.6 per game), rebounds (8.6), steals (6.3) and assists (4.0).

“She's really a jack of all trades,” Skaneateles coach Bob Braunitzer said. “There's other girls that obviously do a lot of things, but she's one of those special ones that just seems to be everywhere.”

While serving as the team's primary ball-handler and distributor, Crary doesn't like to label herself a point guard. In fact, she's fine not being labeled at all.

“I don't really have a position,” Crary said. “I just try to help out wherever I can ... I like to shoot 3s, but if coach puts me down low, it doesn't matter. I'll play wherever.”

It's Crary's help that's lifted Skaneateles to an early 4-3 record. She earned Most Valuable Player honors at the Phoenix Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament after the Lakers defeated Marcellus in the championship game.

The Lakers are young with only one senior, but a majority of the players contributed in some way last season. Crary attributes the recent success to the camaraderie on the squad.

“We're all close friends and it helps a lot on the court,” Crary said. “We know where each other is going to be.”

Despite the dominance, there's no hard feelings among teammates. The modest Crary prefers to defer credit to her teammates when talk starts up about statistics.

“This is the best I've played in - I don't even know when - but my teammates keep passing me the ball,” Crary said. “My team helps out a lot, they pick me up. Everybody does a great job of finding the hot hand.”

Despite playing out top offensively, the 5-8 Crary typically plays on the back line of the Lakers' zone, thus putting her in good defensive rebounding position.

In fact, Braunitzer has an explanation for nearly every one of Crary's statistics.

“She's very active. On defense for example, she's good at anticipating the pass,” Braunitzer said. “She has quick hands and gets in a lot of passing lanes and as a result, she gets a lot of steals.”

Her most telling statistic may be her assists. Skaneateles' leading scorer has twice as many assists as anybody else on the team, proving she's more than willing to dish the rock.

It's a difficult job - finding the perfect mix between distributing and scoring - but Crary seems to have an innate ability to keep her teammates and herself happy.

“She's the point guard, so it's her job to feed people,” Braunitzer said. “But at the same time, she's probably one of two people, her and Staci (Dudden), that can create their own shots. As a result (Caryn) generally scores X number of points and happens to be leading in that category.”

Crary, fellow junior Dudden and senior Lauren Adams are the Lakers' tri-captains this season. Braunitzer recognizes that Crary is more a leader by example and doesn't need to yell and scream to get her point across.

“She doesn't say a lot because she does a lot,” Braunitzer said.

After being named captain, Crary realized the importance of her role and didn't take it lightly.

She is completely committed to being a team leader and doing whatever it takes to make the Lakers better.

“Mr. B was saying that Dudden and I would have to mature since we've been here the longest,” Crary said. “Being named a captain, we realized what we had to do. We took it on ourselves, set a good example and lead any way that we could.”

As a whole, Skaneateles is meshing well on court. The Lakers are 3-3 in road games and thus, right in the thick of things in the Liberty Conference.

“We're getting different kinds of combination from everybody,” Braunitzer said. “All nine girls are participating and actually helping the team. A lot of that comes from the leadership that Caryn brings.”