JORDAN TAYLER’s (Benilde-St. Margaret’s) 27-point performance in Wisconsin’s 71-67 victory over top-ranked Ohio State has propelled him into one of the elite point guards in the country. Taylor, who averages 18 points per game for the Badgers, was Minnesota’s Mr. Basketball in 2008 after helping his team capture the Class AAA state championship.
TAYLER HILL (Minneapolis South), the most decorated girls’ basketball player in Minnesota history, scored 19 points in leading Ohio State to an 83-76 win over Minnesota. The shooting guard was a McDonald’s All-American and Miss Basketball winner after scoring 47 points to lead the Tigers to the Class AAAA state title in 2009.
SCOTT HOWELL (St. Paul Central) has defied the odds as coach of two major varsity sports. Howell, who coaches football and basketball at his alma mater, has led the Minutemen to City Conference titles in football (2008, 2009 and 2010) and boys’ basketball (2005, 2008). Howell was an all-metro fullback for Central in the 1980s as well as an all-conference baseball player.
MAURI HORTON (Minneapolis North), the 1999 Miss Basketball winner and point guard at Rutgers (1999-2003), is the head girls’ coach at Plainfield (NJ) High School. As a point guard at North, Horton helped the Polars capture back-to-back AAA state crowns in 1998 and ’99. As a senior at Rutgers, she led the Scarlet Knights to the NCAA Final Four at the Division I level.
Under the radar at Como Park
I’ll bet you didn’t realize that St. Paul Como Park had three players reach Division I men’s basketball this past decade. That’s more than perennial conference powers Central and Johnson combined.
Two graduated in 2003 (ANDRE SMITH, North Dakota State, and JAMI LOTT, Marquette). The other, STEVE BAKER, who graduated in 2008, is currently playing at Wisconsin-Green Bay.
Smith and Lott, both forwards, led Como to a third-place finish in the AAA tournament in 2003. Baker led to the tournament in 2008, but the Cougars lost in the first round to eventual champion Benilde-St. Margaret’s. Former St. Paul Central coach DAN BRINK coached them.
Mitchell Palmer McDonald welcomes reader responses to mmcdonald@spokesman-recorder.com.
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