By Betsy Haugh / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
Two ties with under five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. A heroic second half effort. Two last-second shots hoping for a three pointer to send the game to overtime. It was everything a tournament championship game should be.
In their third matchup in the past four title games of the Daily Progress Holiday Basketball Classic, Miller finally defeated Spotswood, escaping with a 37-34 victory to knock off the three-time defending champions.
“Anytime you can beat Spotswood, it’s definitely a good win,” said Miller head coach James Braxton. “They’ve got a good team, they’re well coached, and they’re usually pretty good. They press a bunch, and when they do, they work well as a team, so it was a very good win.”
Miller jumped out to an early 6-2 lead but found themselves trailing at the end of the first period by a score of 15-11 thanks to three straight three pointers from Spotswood. The Blazers’ lead would not hold, however, as strong defensive play from Miller held Spotswood to just 2 points over a 12-minute span lasting until there was just 3:42 remaining in the third period.
“We’ll need to look at the film and just reevaluate and figure out where things went wrong,” said Spotswood head coach Chris Dodson. “You just can’t go through droughts like that. I don’t know if it was shot selection or bad luck or what, we just couldn’t get anything going.”
The final minutes of the third quarter and the entirety of the final period essentially became a matchup between Spotswood’s junior guard Bailey Williams and Miller’s inside play flowing through senior post player Ashleigh Claybrooks.
Williams scored all 17 of her team’s second half points, pulling her team back from eight-point and seven-point leads on two occasions to keep the game close.
“She’s a super player, and she tried to put it on her back there down the stretch and try to make things happen,” Dodson said.
Braxton recognized that Williams gave his team all they could handle.
“The second half she started getting to the basket a little bit more, and we fouled her in a couple situations we had talked about not fouling her,” he said. “She can go left, she can go right, and she can knock down the three, so it kind of makes it hard to stay in front of her.
Despite Williams’ heroic effort culminating in a game-high, 24-point performance, Spotswood’s Achilles’ heel proved to be their defense in the post.
Claybrooks countered Williams’ play, stealing the momentum back from Spotswood with seven fourth quarter points, earning a basket inside on the majority of the Mavericks’ possessions down the stretch.
“We figured coming in that our post [players] were probably bigger and probably a little more experienced than their post [players], but they were athletic inside. We felt like we had an advantage there, so we wanted to go inside, and we did take advantage of that,” Braxton said.
Claybrooks led Miller with 13 points. All-tournament team selections Taylor Sandidge and Whitney Martin contributed 11 points and 9 points respectively.
“Ashleigh Claybrooks, Taylor Sandidge, and Whitney Martin have led us in scoring for the most part, but Whitney also leads us in rebounding,” Braxton said. “Taylor is Taylor. She’s a gnat on the ball; she plays good on the ball defense and she makes the other team work on the offense. She sets our stuff, so we can’t ask for more. We’re happy to have those guys.”
Sandidge was also named the tournament’s most valuable player.
For Spotswood, Williams and sophomore Taylor Dodson earned spots on the all-tournament team.
Girls All-Tournament Team
Brie Moore, Waynesboro, Fr.
Molly Shephard, Monticello,Fr.
Mady Baker, Western Albemarle, Sr.
Alex Cave, William Monroe, Sr.
London Todd, Charlottesville, Sr.
Keturah “KK” Johnson, Albemarle, Fr.
Bailey Williams, Spotswood, Jr.
Taylor Dodson, Spotswood, So.
Whitney Martin, Miller, Jr.
Taylor Sandidgem Miller, Jr.
