With Radford-bound senior Whitney Martin out with a foot injury for the fifth-straight game, Miller’s girls basketball team has had to rework things on offense and step up the process of working in all the Mavericks’ new faces.
Monday night was a good example of how far that process has come as Miller rolled past Shenandoah Valley Christian 66-37, a team that came into the clash with the Mavericks at 10-1. Four Mavericks were in double figures as Miller pounded the ball into the post and penetrated against the Patriots’ zone defense.
Rachel Odumu led the way in attacking the zone off the dribble and finished with 16 points. Adrienne Darden and Anyah Bryan notched 10 and 12 points respectively as they carried the load in the paint. And when Shenandoah Valley collapsed on the post, Kristin Histand buried four 3-pointers from outside en route to a 14-point night.
Histand’s long-range shooting made things tough on the Patriots.
“No one has played us (man-to-man) yet,” said Miller coach James Braxton. “She’s kind of our x-factor against zones. To have her and she can stand shoot it is big for us.”
The Mavericks shook off a sluggish first half with a big third quarter run that allowed Miller to turn a 34-20 halftime lead into a 24-point advantage going into the final frame.
“We definitely started out a little flat,” Braxton said. “We got some easy looks in the first half we just missed some lay-ups — we probably missed 10 or 15 lay-ups.”
Bryan and Darden weren’t missing those in the third, when Bryan had six points as Miller worked the ball into the post for some easy buckets.
Amanda Barlow led Shenandoah with 17 points.
Miller is now 13-4 on the year. The Mavericks play New Hope Christian Academy Wednesday before heading to the MLK Classic in Washington this weekend.
