After losing 64-59 to St. Paul Central on Feb. 12, 2015, St. Paul Como Park needed a bounce-back game. Five days later, Como Park got it in a 73-55 win against St. Paul Highland Park.
Forty-four St. Paul City Conference games later, Como Park is still cruising.
The Cougars, who haven’t lost a conference game since that day in mid-February three years ago, collide Thursday with a Highland Park squad hoping to end the run where it started: on the Scots' home court.
Como Park’s offense averages 82.9 points per game this season, and, while it has plenty of contributors on offense, Jada James has been especially impressive, averaging 10.4 points and 12.6 rebounds per game.
Highland Park may have something to tame the offense of the No. 4-3A Cougars (13-1, 4-0). The Scots defense has limited opponents to 23.8 points while winning their first four conference games, including holding St. Paul Washington to just six points on Jan. 8 and giving up just 24 points to both Central and Harding in victories on Jan. 11 and 15, respectively.
Defense is the key to slowing the Cougars, but the Scots need to put the ball in the basket, and for that, they rely on freshman Seylon Versalles-Shiggs (10.2 ppg), who's scored a combined 47 points in the four league games. If Versalles-Shiggs can put up big numbers — like her recent 16-point effort on Jan. 15 against Harding — the Scots (13-3, 4-0) have a chance to send Como Park home with its first conference loss in nearly three seasons.