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Back On Top: Miller girls beat Covenant in an all-local VISAA D2 state final

Photos by Kristi Ellis

Miller girls basketball hadn’t been on top of the mountain in a while.

 

In 2019, Highland edged the Mavericks when Presleigh Braxton and Ella Smith were eight graders.

 

The Mavs missed out in 2020 after a foul-marred state semifinal left them frustrated and finished. 

 

COVID was the culprit in 2021, cutting short a promising year for the Mavericks. 

 

That made Saturday, when Miller’s program beat Covenant 62-29 in the state final and ended the Eagles’ Cinderella run out of the state’s No. 6 seed in an all-local state title game. 

 

“I just love being able to come back, play and get a win considering I’ve been in this position multiple times,” said Miller’s Presleigh Braxton who poured in 20 of her 23 points in the second half. 

 

While the score became lopsided, the weekend was far from a coronation for the Mavericks who’ve been a work in progress all season. The squad struggled to put away Seton in the semifinals and then didn’t play its best basketball in the first half against the Eagles. 

 

“We locked in, we didn’t wake up until the second half but players like Brooklin, Naomi and Lilly, they all stepped up and played really big,” Braxton said. “It took us being close to finally wake up and realize this is a state championship and we’ve worked all season to be here.”

 

Once the Mavericks locked in, Covenant couldn’t find an answer as Braxton knocked down four second half 3-pointers and Alary Bell got things going inside with nine points. Naomi Ryan was also a big offensive contributor with 18 points including four 3-pointers, three of which came in the second half. Ryan carried the offense in the first half with nine of the Mavericks’ 21 points. That slower start was emblematic of the journey this edition of the Mavericks has been on. 

 

“This team right here, it started shaky,” said Miller coach James Braxton. “We had some pieces, we knew that coming in, but we knew we had to work to mold them. They came together down the stretch, 19-5 and we lost to five teams that are very good.”

 

He also got to win a state title with his daughter running the point, a special moment for both Braxtons. 

 

“I’m definitely happy for Presleigh, she’s been to two and didn’t quite win either one,” James Braxton said.

 

The Mavericks also found a level of focus for this one, making sure that they didn’t let off the gas against an Eagles team that showed Friday night in the semifinals they weren’t going to be easily dismissed. 

 

“We stayed within the team and just played together, we really took it upon ourselves to realize what situation we were in,” said Miller’s Brookyln Ingram. “It’s a state championship game, we’ve got to stay focused no matter how many points we’re up.”

 

Covenant appeared in the state title game under first year coach Caroline Wilke for the first time in a quarter century — the program last advanced to the state championship in 1997 under Steve McNerney. They also were coming in running in large part on fumes because all week they’d played at an absolutely breakneck pace required by their Havoc-like defensive approach. The Eagles’ semifinal upset of Steward will likely go down as one of the program’s most important victories as it heralded the continued emergence of a strong young cohort of female athletes at the school that also powered a volleyball run to the state semifinals.

 

“They did a great job of making Covenant stand out,” Wilke said. “I think the most special thing about this team is how much they love each other and how confident they are so I’m only excited for the future because we’re so young.”

 

Those young players fueled the run and carried the offense Saturday, with freshman Delaney Poindexter scoring 11 points while Reese Dalton had nine. The young Eagles certainly got Braxton’s attention, and earned his respect over the course of the year and Covenant’s playoff run. 

 

“We’ll take this one, Covenant is a very scrappy team and they’re going to be trouble for the next four or five years because they’ve got eighth and ninth graders who can play,” Braxton said. “Caroline has done a fantastic job.”

 

For now though, the Mavericks take home a long-awaited trophy and another VISAA D2 state title for Miller’s program. Back on top of the mountain after a significant wait after a season that wasn’t always easy for the Mavericks. 

 

“Being here with my team and getting a good win coming back from yesterday, it’s really special,” said Presleigh Braxton. 

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