From injury to excellence: Senior shooters lead Como to a TC title

Prep Hoops Graphic

Grant McGinnis February 25, 2018 @ 02:45 PM

It was about 30 minutes prior to the biggest game of the year and Makayla Van Nett was sitting courtside wearing a protective boot and a glum look. Would she or wouldn't she be able to play in the 44th Twin Cities championship game? Two hours later, it was pandemonium in the Como Park gym after Van Nett's outstanding second-half performance sparked her team to a dramatic come-from-behind victory over Minneapolis South. The final score was 80-74 and Van Nett was smiling ear-to-ear. "It means a lot, especially playing against two of the most highly-rated players in the state," Van Nett said. "It was my last Twin Cities game and I wanted us to win it. I had to play." Despite a painful stress fracture in her right ankle, the senior guard scored 27 points, including 18 from beyond the three-point line, to lead Como to its fourth straight win in the annual contest between the best city schools. The two highly-rated players Van Nett referred to are the Hill sisters of Minneapolis South. Senior Morgan Hill, who announced her commitment yesterday to D1 Tennessee-Chattanooga, scored 41 points for the Tigers, while freshman Jade Hill (the #1 player in the class of 2021) had 16. It wasn't enough. Despite an impressive start that had staked the Tigers to a nice lead, Van Nett and her fellow senior Raiyne Adams took over after halftime. After combining for just 8 points in the opening half, Van Nett and Adams totaled 38 of Como's 53 in the second. "In the first half it felt like a scrimmage and that's how our girls played," said Como coach Alexis Gray-Lawson. "In the second half we finally started paying attention to the scouting report. You are not going to be able to completely stop great players like that but we were finally able to slow them down." The game was even early before South went on a 12-3 run to create some separation. Van Nett was hobbling and the Hills scored 32 points. It was a comfortable lead of 11 at the break. "We talked at halftime about how Van Nett was really the only one who could shoot them back into it," said South coach Nathan McGuire. "Well, she had 21 in the second half. We were trying as hard as we could but she was just stepping back and knocking them down. That's all we talked about for two days coming into this game. You have to locate her. You have to know where she is and we just didn't do a very good job of that in the second half." "I just keep shooting" It has been a rollercoaster of late for Van Nett, who lost her grandmother last week and then committed to play college ball in Iowa next year. Meanwhile, the injury kept her sidelined for the past week. "She has one of the highest thresholds for pain of any player I have seen," Gray-Lawson said. "You've got a lot of kids who would have just sat it out for this game but she was like, 'No way, this is my last Twin Cities game and I'm going to play.'" Play she did. In the second half it was Adams who opened with a pair of threes before Van Nett got on a roll with a couple of bombs from way beyond the three-point line. That gave Como the lead. Once she makes a shot or two, Van Nett often becomes unstoppable. "I don't know what happens, honestly," she said. "All I need is one shot and I will start feeling it. Even when I'm off and I miss like seven shots in a row, if I make one I feel like I'm about to make the next one and the one after that. I really don't think about it. I just keep shooting." Depth may have been the difference With a little more than five minutes remaining, South center Ariyon Kelly was assessed a technical and fouled out, an important turn of events for the Tigers who employed just six players in the game. Como, on the other hand, went nine deep. 8th grade point guard K'Lynn Asberry came off the bench and had an outstanding second half, moving the ball with authority and displaying a couple of out-of-your-seat moves to score at the rim. She will no doubt be near the top when our first 2022 watch list comes out this spring. Asberry's game has progressed rapidly thanks largely due to the mentorship of Adams, who was terrific when it really mattered. In addition to her 17 second-half points, Raiyne was a defensive force and made the two most important plays of the contest. With the game tied at 74 in the final minute, she poked the ball away from Jade Hill for the steal and cashed in with a layup. She did it again just seconds later and knocked down the ensuing free throws. 8th grader Ronnie Porter put the icing on Como's cake with two more makes from the line and another Twin Cities championship game was in the books.