A game opening 3-pointer that wound up accounting for nearly a third of Seton’s first half offense — that was the adversity that Miller faced. From there, it was a huge first quarter run for Miller and a monster first half that paved the way for the Mavericks. Imani Bryant came up big early inside and Secret Bryant was equally big from outside. Miller had balance on the scoring sheet, owned the glass on both ends of the floor and put the Saints in serious foul trouble early. In the end, when Miller took the double-digit lead early, it stuck. As such, the Mavericks, the back-to-back defending VISAA Division 2 champs have a chance to make it a 3-peat with their 62-42 win in the semifinals.
“We played them in the first game of the season and they came back on us a bit then, kind of the way they did in the fourth quarter today, but we knew they were a shooting team and so if we could make them work that we’d be fine,” said Miller coach James Braxton. “We played a lot of man instead of zone to make them work for their shots and then we worked offensively inside with Imani Bryant and Micah Maloney.”
It proved to be a recipe that the Saints could not handle. It was 3-0 for Seton to start, but six minutes later, Miller was up 17-3. Imani Bryant established her presence down low early and then that opened the door for Secret Bryant outside and then Hannah Woodard underneath. With a 17-5 lead going into the second, the Mavericks kept pouring it on in the second with Micah Maloney getting the job done inside and Abby Morrill from outside. At the break, it was 29-10 for Miller.
“We started in the post and then once we get going we started passing it out, that’s how we’ve been getting our points lately,” Imani Bryant said. “We started hitting three’s and it meant a lot. It meant everyone was in this together.”
The third quarter was evenly paced with the Saints finding a way to get things going on offense by resorting to a full court press to create turnovers. Even still, Miller went into the fourth up comfortably thanks to its offensive balance, 44-26.
In the fourth quarter, Seton went to battle with the clock as well as with their foul trouble and so the Mavericks looked to put the game away. The Saints had their best defensive quarter, in the fourth but only got to within 13 with 2:13 left. From there, Miller knocked down free throws, continued to dominate down low and walked away without having to break too much of a sweat to wrap up the win.
On the night, Secret Bryant led all scorers with 17 points. Imani Bryant had 14 points and 14 rebounds. Maloney also had 14 points. Morrill had nine points on a trio of 3-pointers.
“We started with a tough schedule and I think we were 8-11 at one point, but playing great competition,” Braxton said. “It was tough and now we’re playing some really good basketball and the shooting is getting better. You have that with what we have in the post and it’s hard for teams.”
Miller advances to face Nansemond-Suffolk in the state title game for the second straight year. The Mavericks won that contest with a 32-point win. NSA won their semifinal against Norfolk Christian 57-32. Tipoff is at 1 p.m. at Richard Bland College in Petersburgh.
“Our main goal is the ring,” Imani Bryant said. “Any road block that’s there, we’re going to knock it down to get that ring. That’s what we’re here for. We can’t play the same game today tomorrow though. We have to be much better. We’ve still got work to do. A win is a win, but there’s still more work.”
