Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
WAVERLY — Chuck Miller has seen his fair share of success on the basketball court.
But he’s never experienced something like he did on Saturday.
Two years ago, Miller’s Falcons reached a district semifinal where they fell to Portsmouth West. Last winter, they got into a district final but dropped a decision to Portsmouth.
They took the next step on Saturday and gave Miller the first district championship trophy of his young head coaching career.
CREDIT: Erica Fike/SOSA
Behind the twin towers that are Lindsee Williams and Marlee Pendleton, flanked by a balanced effort from Kerigan Davis, Minford (19-5) handed Wheelersburg a 51-36 loss in a Division V district final — winning the program’s first district title since 2018.
“I was an assistant at Oak Hill under Doug Hale for quite awhile and we won a couple of district titles there,” Miller said. “But it’s different when it’s your own program. I’m just proud of these kids. They’ve worked so hard for this and there isn’t a group that deserves this more than they do. We earned this. This wasn’t given to us. We absolutely earned this.”
Early on, the game belonged to Minford senior Lindsee Williams.
The 6-foot post scored nine points in the first quarter alone and spearheaded a 7-0 run to begin the game.
Wheelersburg’s first points of the night came on a 3-point field goal from Emma Smith at the 3:12 mark, but Davis, Lexi Conkel and Williams all scored to produce a 15-3 count after one.
Put simply, it was a hole the Pirates (21-3) could never climb out of.
The second saw much of the same. While Wheelersburg did start to see shots fall, Minford answered at every turn — and most of the time by way of Williams and Pendleton.
That duo, which eventually combined for 26 points and 18 rebounds, allowed the Falcons to take a 21-13 lead into the break.
“They feed off each other so well off that high-low action because they’ve been playing together for so long,” Miller said of Williams and Pendleton. “The thing about Marlee tonight was that when our guards got in foul trouble, she had to guard one of their guards. She sat down and she held them in check. She’s just a bruiser. I wouldn’t want to see her in a street fight.”
Wheelersburg managed to cut the lead to seven on two occasions — at 26-19 and 28-21 — in the third, but Minford used two buckets from Maggie Risner and a score from Penldeton to take a 34-23 advantage into the final eight minutes.
Throughout the fourth, the Falcons continued to keep the Pirates at bay. Throughout the night, Minford’s defense held Wheelersburg to 3-of-20 shooting from beyond the 3-point line — an area where it usually causes havoc.
“We don’t even have to scout each other,” Miller said of Wheelersburg. “The first time we played, we beat them [at Wheelersburg] and then, they beat us at our place. We made some defensive mistakes in that game and we didn’t stay on their shooters on the perimeter. So the last couple of days, we’ve focused on that. We wanted to take away that three-headed monster they have, which is [Mia] Vastine, [Peyton] May and [Jaylinn] Prather, and I think we held them in check pretty well tonight.”
The Falcons’ nine-to-10-point lead stayed intact throughout the fourth and, late in the game, they called on Williams and Risner to knock down free throws and put a district championship on ice.
“These seniors, when they were sophomores, got beat by West and last year, we got beat by Portsmouth,” Miller said. “So we talked to the girls about needing to take that next step. We got a good draw this year and we had to take advantage of that.”
Smith paced the Pirates with nine points and four rebounds while Vastine added seven points and three assists. Ava Artrip also helped out with seven points.
Williams ended the night with 17 points and nine rebounds while Risner added 14 points and six boards. Pendleton added nine points and nine rebounds, and Davis finished with nine points, four rebounds and three assists.
While the Pirates’ 21-win season comes to a close, Minford advances to a Division V regional semifinal at 6 p.m. on Thursday at Logan High School. The Falcons will meet with Belmont Union Local, a 60-43 winner over Martins Ferry.
“I don’t know a thing about [Union Local]. But we’ll get some tape on them and we’ll watch it tomorrow before getting a scouting report ready,” Miller said. “We can guard anybody and defense travels. If you can play defense, you can beat anyone in the tournament.”
BOX SCORE
Wheelersburg: 3-10-10-13 — 36
Minford: 15-6-13-17 — 51
Wheelersburg: 12-47 FG, 9-13 FT, 3-20 3pt., 22 rebounds (DeHart 5), 17 turnovers, 4 assists (Vastine 3). Scoring: Smith 9, Artrip 7, Vastine 7, Prather 6, DeHart 5, May 2.
Minford: 17-37 FG, 16-28 FT, 0-6 3pt., 31 rebounds (Pendleton 9, Williams 9), 14 turnovers, 3 assists (Davis 3). Scoring: Williams 17, Risner 14, Pendleton 9, Davis 9, Conkel 2.
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