Miller’s Merrick shines bright as Lady Cardinals defeat Top-10 opponent

By: 
Skylan Akins

Much like most of the entire state of Missouri, the Miller Lady Cardinals had a scheduled matchup with Diamond postponed to next week. However, the Lady Cardinals traveled to the campus of Southwest Baptist University to take on sixth ranked South Callaway in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame Classic on Saturday.
The third ranked Lady Cardinals came out on fire from three as sophomore Alyssa Hill had a pair in the opening frame. Miller was able stifle a Lady Bulldogs run late in the quarter and take a 16-13 lead into the second quarter. Junior Claudia Hadlock led the Lady Cardinal offense finding her teammates all night. She also chipped in 15 first half points to give Miller the 30-27 lead going into the half.
The Miller offense came alive in the second half with an explosion from lone senior Lili Merrick. Merrick had a slow start having a few shots roll out, however, she got it going in the second half as Miller started to pull away from the Lady Bulldogs. The Lady Cardinals finished the battle of top-10 state contenders with a 65-55 win over South Calloway.
“Given the circumstances of this week with the weather, we didn’t get very many practices in this week. Hats off to South Calloway. They are a very fundamentally sound team in the Top 10,” Miller head coach Hannah Wilkerson said of the win Saturday. “I’m proud of how we came in and had one of our better games offensively of the season. We could have played better defensively, but we were able to grind it out and get a big win.”
Merrick was the story in the second half with 16 of her 20 points coming in the final two frames.
“The first half was a tough one for me. I wasn’t hitting anything. It was pretty rough. At halftime something clicked, and I gained my confidence back.” Merrick said after the win.
Claudia Hadlock led the way with 25 points for the Lady Cardinals. Merrick added 20. Alyssa Hill got eight to fall, behind a pair of threes. Kaylee Helton pitched in five. Payten Richardson wrapped up scoring with four.
The win moves Miller to 23-1 on the year. The Lady Cardinals are scheduled for a make up game against Diamond on Thursday.

Category:

Lawrence County Record

312 S. Hickory St.
Mt. Vernon, MO, 65712
www.lawrencecountyrecord.com

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