The Rondo Community Double Dutch jump rope team performed at halftime of Friday’s Como Park High girls basketball game, featuring a 4-year old member who delighted a near-capacity crowd.
Como Park girls basketball coach Olonda England. (Tris Wykes / Special to the Pioneer Press)
Once nonconference action resumed, it was visiting Minneapolis North that leaped ahead last, prevailing 65-62 when Alayla Salas’ 3-point shot bounced high off the rim and out as time expired.
“I just want to see a little bit more from them,” Como Park coach Olonda England said of her team, which fell to 8-8 overall but has an 87-game St. Paul City Conference winning streak dating to 2015.
“I’d like to see aggressive defense. We sagged off the ball a little bit. We’re a small team but we’re quick, like mosquitos, so we should be up on the ball.”
North’s Aniyrah Gorman, who’s in her first season with the Polars (13-4) after earlier career stops at Cretin-Derham Hall and Two Rivers, had 25 points. The 5-foot-7 junior showed slick moves to the basket and a nice shooting touch, aided by the referees’ unwillingness to whistle her for using her free hand to ward off defenders.
“You do it until you’re called for it,” England said with a small smile, noting that many of her players know Gorman from the club ball world.
Another player prominent on the AAU circuit is Como Park’s Ahmani Crump, who produced 31 points Friday as Gorman’s point-guard counterpart. A 5-2 junior, Crump is England’s daughter and the sister of University of Wisconsin women’s basketball standout Ronnie Porter, who also played for their mother at Como Park.
Crump sank seven of her 16 attempted shots from beyond the arc, some of them in audaciously low-probability situations. She and England agreed that to be even more effective, however, she needs to better assess when to charge to the rim and when to pull up and shoot pass to a teammate.
Como Park guard Ahmani Crump (Tris Wykes / Special to the Pioneer Press)
“I could have created for my team more when we were in trouble and they were trapping us everywhere,” Crump said, while noting that the Cougars will hit a higher gear when they consistently move without the ball. “I have to put people in position (with passes) but we do a lot of standing, too.”
Said England: “She’s a great shooter and a very aggressive player but she has to get her team involved. Instead of seeing the floor, she’ll just go down and chuck it up. A couple of times tonight I was afraid she was going to get hurt when she was knocked off her feet.”
The Cougars also need improved rebounding. They tend to jump alongside opponents, relying purely on athleticism. Forethought, positioning and the realization that smaller and shorter players can clean the glass go farther than many teenagers initially understand.
Said England: “Do that and the ball will come to you and you won’t have to work so hard. Boxing out is huge for us.”
The hosts received six points from Naijiona Shaw, who recently transferred back to the Cougars from Champlin. Another six points came from Salas, a freshman whom England connected with at a summer tournament and who changed her attendance plans from South St. Paul to Como Park.
“Her motor and ball handling is crazy and she’s going to be something to reckon with when she gets older and more comfortable with the game,” England said. “She’s a very quick learner and we’ll grow her basketball IQ.”
Como Park sank only two of its first 20 field-goal attempts and trailed, 28-25, at halftime. The Cougars led by three points midway through the second half and were down by five with three minutes remaining. Still, they had a chance to tie the game after inbounding at midcourt with six seconds on the clock.
The plan was for the pass to go to Salas, who would dish to Crump coming out of the near corner when the defense moved to the ball. But two Polars stayed with the hot shooter and it fell to Salas to let fly just before the horn sounded.
“It was a great last shot,” said England, whose team fell in the Class 3A, Section 3 final last year and has lost to the likes of Edina, Hopkins, Roseville and Wayzata this winter “We don’t want to be scared to play bigger teams as we get ready for sectionals. There’s some games we shouldn’t have lost, but we’re in a good spot at this point of the season.”
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