Williams leads Spotswood past Miller in girls final

The last time Spotswood’s girls basketball team won The Daily Progress NBC29 Holiday Classic, it also won the state title later in the season.

Well, if this year is any indication, things bode well for the Trailblazers’ postseason chances.

Spotswood used a stingy defense and its well-balanced offensive attack to dispatch the Miller School 42-27 in the tournament’s title game on Tuesday night and stay unbeaten this year.

“Everybody played again tonight. Each of them know their role and they played their roles well,” said Spotswood coach Chris Dodson, whose team is 8-0. “That’s the thing that impresses me the most… up and down the lineup everybody’s got a stat. They’re buying into their roles and becoming more of a family. I think that comes with starting to have a little ownership of it.”

Early on, the Mavericks were able to take away Spotswood’s gameplan with their stifling zone defense. Miller got the first-quarter lead with a pair of baskets from Christine Nyobe and a layup from Alex Tamez.

“Their size and strength took us out of some things we like to do,” Dodson said. “They cover a lot of space, and I thought it took us a while to adjust.”

But in the second quarter, the Blazers settled down, made the necessary adjustments and took control.

With Miller (9-2) clinging to a one-point lead at the end of the first quarter, Spotswood got back-to-back baskets from Alycia Meadows to take the lead.

The Blazers continued to build on that advantage behind play from Brianna Mitchell and Kishia Taylor. Spotswood outscored Miller 14-4 during the frame to open up a 21-12 lead by halftime.

The Blazers, last year’s tournament runners-up, kept up the intensity in the second half and never trailed again.

“We started out pretty good. And that’s what they do, they get easy baskets, and if you don’t score and match them, you find yourself behind,” said Miller coach James Braxton. “And it’s always tough to play from behind with them because they’re a good half-court basketball team.

“We rushed some shots in the second quarter, we didn’t take very good shots, and we had some shots that just didn’t go down.”

Miller’s offense was lackluster the entire way, scoring in single digits all four quarters. In fact, no player reached double figures for the Mavericks. Alisha Terry scored a team-high seven points and Nyobe finished with six.

On the other hand, three players scored at least nine points for the Blazers. Carter Williams, who was named the tournament’s MVP, led the way with 11, while Mitchell finished with 10. Meadows chipped in with nine points.

Despite the loss, Braxton was pleased with his players’ efforts on defense against the Blazers, a normally high-scoring team. Spotswood scored 95 points in a first-round win over Culpeper.

Braxton hopes his team can get back on track.

“We just need to learn to trust each other,” Braxton said. “I think that the more trust and the more confidence we have in one another, the better we’re going to be.”