ST PAUL, Minn. — The Como Park Senior High School varsity girls' basketball team is used to winning games.
Proof is in their five consecutive St. Paul City Conference Championships.
At the time of our story, the team was ranked 10th in the state, with a record of 22-2. The youngest starter is an 8th grader. Among the 11 players on the team, only two are juniors.
Despite losing two games during the regular season, the team and their head coach, Alexis Gray-Lawson, understand the importance of rebounding. It’s a necessary life skill.
“I come from a really bad neighborhood in Oakland, California. When I was 12 from the age of 17, I probably had 50 friends die,” Gray-Lawson said. “I have kids that are homeless. Kids that have been beaten. I have kids that have been abandoned.”
One of the freshman players said she was in the foster care system and had a hard time getting to practice. Finally, she reached a breaking point and shared her struggle with her coaches. That revelation led to something more than she expected. One of the assistant coaches stepped in and adopted her.
“The family that I have now, it all came from basketball and meeting these girls and meeting the coaches, which is now everything that I have is from just meeting them and starting basketball,” she said. “This is my family.”
Indeed, basketball has built family for the Como girls.
The team’s head coach, a former WNBA player, said two students who were homeless now have homes. About two years ago, she provided shelter for one of the players in a similar situation.
“I get the luxury of waking up to my 2-year-old son and wife and having a great day and being able to drive a car here. We take those little things for granted,” she said. “When something tragic happens, we go, ‘Oh, my life is terrible,’ and then you look and see all these other kids that don’t have socks, shoes and clothes. God has given me some incredible gifts and one of my gifts is being able to speak life into kids.”