Miller’s girls basketball team got going fast Monday night in the opening round of the Daily Progress/NBC29 Holiday Classic and Albemarle, understandably, never found an answer. The Mavericks rolled to a 78-33 victory over the Patriots.
Ashley Bowles ignited the defending VISAA Division 3 state champions with 24 first half points, knocking down three 3-pointers in the first quarter as Miller managed to dictate the pace from the opening tip, leaping out to an 18-1 lead and a 45-10 advantage at the break. When Miller wanted to press and up the tempo on defense, they did it. When the Mavericks wanted to slow it down and work through the half court offense, they did that.
“We’ve got two kids in the post that we want to go inside to as much as possible, but we still want to make sure we take advantage of our opportunities where we can push it a little bit,” said Miller coach James Braxton. “We’re in a good space right now.”
Bowles went 10-for-12 from the field. She also had four assists and two steals.
The Mavericks are 3-1 on the year and already posted a couple of 20 or more point wins, a testament to some quickly built chemistry between a core group that was part of last season’s state title run and a new group of talented standouts including Winthrop-commitment Kelsey Corcoran.
“It’s developed really quickly,” Corcoran said. “The team I was with before we never really had that chemistry…here within a couple of weeks we just were automatically looking for each other and trying to get each other involved.”
Corcoran finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds. A pair of other newcomers also played big roles, and they’ll have to all year with Miller’s limited roster (11 players suit up regularly for the Mavericks — only eight put on jerseys Monday). Another new face in the post, junior Ashleigh Claybrooks, had eight points while point guard Taylor Sandidge attacked the basket well and had a strong, balanced outing with 14 points, 11 assists and six steals.
Returner Whitney Martin also reached double figures with 12 points.
Shanice Palmer led Albemarle with eight points while Jessica Hairston finished with seven as the Patriots’ rebuilding effort continues.
Miller takes on Liberty Christian in the semifinals Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. at Albemarle High. Albemarle will take on Mt. Carmel Christian at 3 p.m.
