Game of the Week: Como gunning for 4th straight TC Title

<p>There’s all kinds of history ready to be made in our final regular season Game of the Week—which is the 44th annual girls Twin Cities Game. Minneapolis South travels to St. Paul Como Park on Saturday at 1 p.m. Specifically, Como Park seeks to become the 1st St. Paul girls team ever to win 4 straight TC Games. If they do that, they’ll tie Minneapolis North, not surprisingly, which set the record with 4 wins from 2001 through 2004.</p> <p>North also holds the boys record with 4 straight TC Game wins from 1984 to 1987 and again from 1995 to 1998. But, where Minneapolis leads the almost 100 year old boys series by a wide margin (63-26), the St. Paul girls have dominated this series from the start and lead 27-16 at the present time. Highland Park won 3 of the 1st 4 games, then Hill-Murray (yes, that Hill-Murray, no longer a member of the City Conference, of course) won 3 of the 2nd 4 and 5 of 9, then Cretin-Derham Hall (yes, that Cretin-Derham Hall) won 5 between 1992 and 2000. At that point, St. Paul led by a ridiculous 18-4.</p> <p>North then won 8 of 11 and South 4 of 6 to get within 21-16, but St. Paul has now won a girls record of 6 straight (the Minneapolis boys once won 13 straight from 1952 to 1964). Highland Park defeated Roosevelt 67-63 in 2012 for its 5th title. Then, Central defeated Washburn twice. And, then, of course, Como took over.</p> <p>So, can the Cougars make it a 4-peat? Well, they’ve got a steep Hill to climb even on their home court. But, the fact is that Como surprised South last year, at South, 66-63 as Makayla Van Nett hit 3 3s and 27 points, and Elaina Jones added 14 points and 14 rebounds. Morgan Hill scored 22 for South, Jade Hill 15 and Ariyon Kelly 11. Of course, Elaina Jones among those 5 players is the only one not to return to her former team this year (she is at DeLaSalle), but Como was only one game better last year, and South only one game better this year. Toss in the home court advantage and there’s no reason this won’t be another competitive game.</p> <p><strong>South Scouting Report</strong></p> <p>Along with Hill, Hill and Kelly, South returns 3-point sniper Solana Cushing, lost guard Kiana Lockett, and has added some depth in Camryn Benjamin and Maisey Johnson. They’re an explosive team that scores 74 points per game—26 of those by Morgan Hill, 17 by Jade and 11 by Cushing. 5 of their top 6 players shoot 43 percent or better, and Jade and Morgan and Cushing make almost 45 percent of their 3s. On the other hand, if you can keep Morgan off the rim and close out on Cushing at the arc, as Cretin, Kennedy and Cooper did, you’ve got a shot. Cushing, in particular, struggled in South’s losses, and Como has the quickness to defend the 3. But only 3 teams did that and 2 of them have spent most of the year in the top 5 in their class. So it’s easier said than done.</p> <p><strong>Como Scouting Report</strong></p> <p>Like South, Como also loves to run and scores more than 70 points per game. They’re a better 3-point shooting team because of Van Nett, one of the top long-range bombers in the state. They’re also one of the few teams South will play this year that is quicker than South. I mean, quicker than Jade Hill? Probably not. But 3-4 deep, quicker. So, 1) defending the arc and 2) making it tough for Jade to get the ball to Morgan and Cushing are a couple of good opportunities for Como to help themselves.</p> <p>But, after Van Nett, where will the points come from? Well, 8th grader Ronnie Porter, senior Raiyne Adams, 9th grader Kaylynn Asberry, 8th grader Jada James, 7th grader Shania Nichols and senior Autumn Tucker all score from 7 to 10 points. They’re young and they’re fearless. If just a couple of them are hot, they’ll score plenty of points.</p> <p><strong>The Bottom Line</strong></p> <p>All in all, Como is a team like Cooper that seems to be built to compete with South. So while, on paper, South has a better record, a little more size and a lot more experience, games aren’t decided on paper. And, on the court, this feels like a 75-75 tie. So, no, we’re not going to pick a winner. We’re just going to call it OT, baby, and, then, it’s just a question of whether it’s a Van Nett 3 or a Morgan Hill driving layup that falls through as the buzzer ends the extra session.</p>