Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
ZANESVILLE — Tri-Valley had everything it wanted early in Saturday’s Division III district final.
The Scotties had experienced a dream start, owned a 10-0 lead and had seized every ounce of momentum.
But the one thing they didn’t have turned out to be the one thing that doomed them: Unioto’s Milee Smith.
The electrifying junior scored the Shermans’ first points of the day with a 3-ball from the left wing at the 4:12 mark in the first quarter and it was all gas, no brakes from that point forward.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
Smith ended the day with a game-high 33 points to power her Shermans (21-4) to a 66-56 victory over Tri-Valley at Zanesville High School — securing the program’s second district championship in the past three seasons.
“A lot of people don’t understand that, obviously, your confidence as a team can be a little bit dented when you’re down 10-0,” Unioto coach Jeff Miller said. “But as soon as the other people on the floor see Milee get it going, it helps their confidence. It’s like, ‘Milee’s got it going. We can relax a little bit.’ She single-handedly brought us back in the game but then you saw some other kids start feeding off that. She just does so many things. It’s not just the 33 points.”
Tri-Valley (21-4) used back-to-back buckets from Annika Collett to go ahead 4-0 early. That four-point had ballooned to 10-0 when Maddie Garber capped the run with a 3 near the four-minute mark of the first quarter.
The Shermans were on the ropes early and desperately needed an answer.
Smith was happy to provide one.
After she nailed a triple with 4:12 left, Keyairah Beard followed suit at the 2:33 mark, cutting the deficit to 12-6. Throughout the rest of the quarter, Tri-Valley would retain a six-to-seven-point lead. The Scotties took a 19-12 advantage into the second, but the Shermans had life.
Smith made it a 19-14 game just 10 seconds into the second before Maggie Holbert provided a spark, scoring for a 19-16 count. Holbert splashed in a 3 with 6:16 left to force a 19-19 tie before Smith gave the Shermans their first lead with another trey at the 5:10 mark, capping a 13-0 run.
Holbert’s spark came at the best time possible for Unioto.
“Maggie is just one of those glue kids,” Miller said. “When we played Sheridan [in the district semifinal], she had a rough game and she’d be the first one to tell you that. But she’s also one of those kids that’s so mentally tough that she’s not going to have two in a row. She’s going to grind. She hit some really big shots when we were trying to climb back in the game that kept us in reach.”
Smith extended the lead to 25-21 with three free throws before Tri-Valley ripped off a 6-0 run to take a 27-25 lead. That back-and-forth action continued throughout the rest of the quarter.
With 27.2 seconds remaining and the Scotties ahead 32-29, Smith pulled into her bag of tricks and provided more magic.
She buried a 3 to tie the game and then stepped in front of the ensuing inbound pass for a steal. When she beat two defenders to the rim with 9.2 seconds left, the Shermans had a 34-32 lead — one that stood at halftime.
“We knew the pace had to be in our favor,” Miller said. “We had to get up and down because [Tri-Valley] is like 5-foot-11, 6-foot across the board. So early in the game, we weren’t able to speed the game up and when you can’t make a basket, you can’t do that. But once we were able to get going offensively, we were able to jump into some pressure and speed them up. It eliminated some of their interior post play. I thought that was huge, just being able to switch the pace.”
The third quarter saw more of the same, featuring seven lead changes — the final of which came with under a minute left when TV’s Mackenzie Harvey dialed long distance, putting the Scotties ahead 48-46 going into the fourth.
Down two and with her team’s season hanging in the balance, Smith went back to work.
She immediately gave Unioto a 49-46 edge with three straight free throws before nailing another triple at the 5:54 mark for a 54-50 advantage. A little over a minute later, she again connected from deep, providing a 58-51 lead.
Tri-Valley never recovered.
The University of Dayton commit’s final score came with 1:50 left, making it 61-55, before Beard and Mya Hamilton put the win on ice from the free throw line.
“When you’re putting your schedule together, you’re thinking about what you need to do to prepare your kids for a long tournament run,” Miller said. “A couple of years ago, we went 22-0 in the regular season. But I don’t feel like we were ready for the tournament. So the last two years, we’ve really tried to up our non-league schedule. We want to play in those games where you cannot take a play off or make consecutive mistakes. It’s paid off coming into these games.”
Smith’s 33 points went alongside six rebounds and a pair of assists, and extends her single-season scoring record to 650 points. Holbert followed with 13 points while Beard added 11 of her own. Hamilton also chipped in with nine points and five boards.
The Shermans will now advance to a Division III regional semifinal at 6 p.m., Wednesday back at Zanesville High School. They’ll meet with Avon Lake, a 54-30 winner over Westlake.
It’ll be a test.
Avon Lake has lost five games this season to programs with a combined record of 84-11.
“When you have the best player on the floor, you feel good about it,” Miller said. “But you’re also in the regional tournament and there are 16 teams left in the state of Ohio. [Avon Lake] is going to have kids that can guard the best player. So it’s not going to be a one-man show. We’re going to have to have seven or eight kids that are able to contribute and thrive in their role.”
BOX SCORE
Unioto: 12-22-12–20 — 66
Tri-Valley: 19-13-16-7 — 56
Unioto: 20-38 FG, 15-19 FT, 11-20 3pt., 17 rebounds (Smith 6), 10 turnovers, 6 assists (Smith 2, Beard 2). Scoring: Smith 33, Holbert 13, Beard 11, Hamilton 9.
Tri-Valley: 20-52 FG, 6-10 FT, 10-27 3pt., 24 rebounds (Collett 7), 10 turnovers, 16 assists (Harvey 5). Scoring: Garber 16, Harvey 15, Rollins 9, Collett 7, Smith 5, Wilson 4.
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