By VINCE LOVERGINE
TopSports.news
Fifth-year Highland Park girls basketball coach Rob Brown said nobody should sleep on his team this season despite the Scots losing quite a few players from last year's 17-5 squad.
Highland Park girls basketball coach Rob Brown has high hopes for this season's Scots team. [File photo/TSN]
Brown said losing Permella Carter, who transferred to Shawnee Heights, will be hard to replace, but with a lot of new faces, he said the players have taken that ownership of it and they’re ready to attack the season.
“Some of these girls have been waiting their turn,'' Brown said. "Our JV has been undefeated the last couple years and will surprise some people.''
Brown said Koralee Jones, Zayah Kincade, Majesty Grace, Miluv Cosey and a transfer from Oregon will all be factors on this year's squad, whether its with defense, shooting or energy.
“They love to play defense,'' Brown said. "They want to get up in you, they talk, they’re real vocal, they have each other's backs. Overall, I think this is going to be one of my most disciplined groups, so that’s going to be big for us because in the past we beat ourselves and we always talk about not beating ourselves.
"And, the numbers in the gym are a lot better than years past, which is great. I’m excited.''
When he first arrived at Highland Park, Brown always told the girls, 'Don’t bring bad habits from last season into the new season.' He said those losses last year were collapses in the second half and the Scots have to learn to keep a lead and keep fighting back if they do get down.
“I’m learning to be more patient, I pride myself in that, but being patient with this group will be good. We’re working on the small detail stuff, too, because that wins games,” Brown said.
“We take a lot of pride in our defense,” Jones said. “Defense wins games. If we’re able to play lockdown defense, that will be the key for us winning games.
“I just try to reflect how our coaches are to our younger classmen because they look up to our coaches just as much as they do to us, so if we can mirror their type of coaching style, mirror their personality, I think it’s good for everyone overall.''
“I think we’re going to be even better than we were last year. We have better communication and better teamwork,” Kincade said.
Highland Park will open the 2025-2026 season at home next Wednesday against Topeka West.
