McMINNVILLE – Despite their tumultuous season with a loaded schedule, the Millers still shot for the stars at the 5A Girls Basketball State Championships – confident in their ability to make some noise on the all-state scale.
They ended the season with the same seed they took into state – sixth overall.
“Well, No. 6 wasn’t our goal,” assistant coach Jermaine Robinson said. “Every season, we always come in with a mentality of winning a state title. Losing Ryan Kelley early in the season really hurt us inside having another big. The younger players had stepped up in games but we were only able to rotate about seven, maybe eight players the whole season.”
It started with being booted to the consolation bracket after losing in the quarterfinals to the No. 3-seeded South Albany RedHawks – who finished as the state runner-up against No. 1-seeded Crater. The Millers battled the RedHawks on even terms early, as the first quarter ended 8-8. However, the RedHawks outscored the Millers 17-2 in the second quarter, and from there skated to their 59-56 victory. In particular, the RedHawks’ Taylor Donaldson stole the spotlight, dropping 35 points on only 19 shots, including making tough baskets over Iyahna Woodard, Springfield’s post player.
“South Albany basically made shots and we didn’t,” Robinson said. “Our top scorers couldn’t get rolling and when you don’t score you don’t win. We had a lot of unforced turnovers.”
The Millers were able to bounce back with a consolation bracket win, 56-55 against No. 7-seeded West Albany. Leading scorer Sailor Hall recorded 21 points, Darissa Romero-Ah Sam had 12 points, and Woodard scored 10.
“We played great team defense,” Robinson said.
The Millers then rolled into the final fourth-sixth place match against Wilsonville. The Millers lost to the Wildcats 62-56 and claimed the sixth-place spot. The Redmond Panthers grabbed fifth place.
