The Miller girl’s basketball team advanced to the Blue Ridge Conference tournament finals Thursday evening with a 64-33 semi-final win over Eastern Mennonite in front of a supportive home crowd.
The Lady Mavericks ran off to a quick 18-9 lead after the first quarter, and grew stronger as the game developed. Miller played tight defense against the Lady Flames, which paid off with numerous transition opportunities for the home team. The Lady Mavericks grew their lead to 30-17 by the 4:10 mark of the second quarter, and went into halftime leading 39-18.
Miller experienced a scare with 5:15 remaining in the second quarter, when Ashleigh Claybrooks slipped on the court after tangling with an Eastern Mennonite player. Claybrooks anguished on the floor for a few minutes and needed assistance coming off the floor.
Miller overcame Claybrooks’ apparent knee injury and rallied for a critical run. As Claybrooks shook her injury off on the bench, her team went on a 11-3 run on close the first half.
“We got to play a lot of players tonight because Ashleigh had to come out and we had a comfortable lead,” Miller coach James Braxton said. “We played good defense tonight. To come out like we did and play strong, that’s good for us.”
The Lady Mavericks shined in all facets of the game Thursday evening, executing an effective trap defense and demonstrating a lot of patience on offense. Both teams also displayed effective interior games, with Miller’s Kelsey Corcoran scoring 10 points and the Flames’ Carly Kraybill scoring 11.
Miller opened up the third quarter on a 12-6 run, due in large part to Corcoran’s offensive and defensive performance inside. The Lady Mavericks then embarked on a 9-2 run to open the fourth quarter, expanding their lead to 32 points at 60-28 with 4:20 remaining in the game and allowing Braxton to substitute his bench players in liberally.
Corcoran was pleased with her performance against Eastern Mennonite, and is confident her team can achieve its post-season goals.
“We’ll play [Liberty Christian Academy] in the finals, and that’s the third time we’ll face them this season [after beating them in the first two matchups]. We just need to come out focused like we did tonight, because we did do well,” Corcoran said. “(I hope) the third time won’t be the charm for them.”
Braxton agreed with his senior leader, also mentioning that his team can’t afford to let down after Thursday evening’s convincing victory.
“It’s tough playing a team for the third time and we’ll have to be prepared,” Braxton said. “The positives we can take from this match are that we played great on defense and really hustled, and if we can keep that in our next game, we can be a really good team.”
Miller plays LCA in the Blue Ridge championship game Saturday.
