The top-seeded Miller girls basketball team put on a clinic in its opening-round game in the Blue Ridge Conference tournament on Tuesday, cruising to a 62-14 win over visiting Chatham Hall.
The Mavericks (23-6), who have now won seven games in a row, jumped out to a quick lead and eventually poured it on their opponent for the second time this season. Back on Jan. 30, Miller crushed the same squad by 48 points.
“We’ve been playing pretty good basketball,” said Miller coach James Braxton of the easy victory. “We played [Chatham Hall] earlier in the season and it was pretty lopsided, so we just felt like if we came in and continued to play our game, we’d be in good shape.”
Junior point guard Taylor Sandidge scored 11 of her game-high 15 points over the opening eight minutes, and Miller enjoyed a comfortable 34-5 halftime advantage. Chatham Hall forward Elise Dugan scored all five points for her team, and all but four for the contest.
The Mavericks, who were without guard Whitney Martin, opened the second half on a 17-0 run to push their lead to 51-5 before Dugan knocked down a baseline jumper to avoid being blanked in the frame.
The starters had the luxury of watching the reserves get some playing time over the last minutes of the blowout. Miller freshman center Adrienne Darden scored six of her eight points in the fourth.
“It’s definitely paying dividends for us with the other kids that are coming off the bench getting some quality minutes,” Braxton said of the unsung team members getting some valuable postseason burn. “We talk about that a lot, being ready when it’s your turn, and I feel like we’ve done a good job of that.”
Senior forward Ashleigh Claybrooks scored 10 points, while Rachel Odumu added 12. Martin is expected to return on Thursday when the Mavericks host a semifinal game against Eastern Mennonite on Thursday at 5 p.m. A win over the Flames would place Miller in the conference final on Saturday in Lynchburg.
“We’ll just come out and be aggressive and hopefully get out to another quick start and handle things so we can keep moving forward to Saturday,” said the coach.
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