Defense leads Mavs to semifinals

With some hard-nosed press defense early, No. 1-seeded Miller took care of business in the VIS state quarterfinals Thursday by rolling to a 62-31 victory over Broadwater at home.
The win advances the Mavericks to a VIS Division III semifinal at Paul VI in Fairfax where they’ll face the winner of the Carlisle/Blessed Sacrament contest at 12:45 p.m.
Miller hit a few baskets early and immediately went to a fullcourt zone press, which helped spark the Mavericks to a 9-0 lead. Christine Nyobe, who finished with 11 points, had 10 in the first half and sparked Miller early.
“We started out pressing in our 2-2-1 and got a lot of layups out of that,” said Miller coach James Braxton.
Nyobe did a solid job of finishing around the basket early and drawing fouls. The forward also had five blocks and eight rebounds despite sitting for stretches during the game, including the entire fourth quarter.
Jaime Fleming led the Mavericks with 19 points, including all of Miller’s four 3-pointers. Alex Tamez chipped in 13 points too, and Carly Sable, another senior who got the start for Miller, hauled down 11 rebounds.
Miller, who beat Broadwater earlier this season by 30 points, appears to be peaking at the right time going into tomorrow’s semifinal game.
“I do feel better about this team than I have,” Braxton said. “I feel like we’re playing good basketball and if we can keep doing that we’ll be alright.”