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The Miller Lady Cardinals have returned to a very familiar place, the sectional round of the state tournament. For the seventh year in a row, the Lady Cardinals hoisted the district championship trophy following a tight victory over Ash Grove Friday night but first they had other business to attend.
The Lady Cardinals quest for the seven peat began in the semifinal round on Wednesday night in Ash Grove where they took on Jasper and perhaps the best athlete in the tournament Crystal Smith. The Lady Eagles waltzed into the game an impressive 25-2 for the year and gave Miller all that they wanted.
The Lady Cardinals struggled offensively but a huge burst from Loghann Leivan, along with Layni Johnson and Kendall Neely joining the scoring, kept the Lady Cardinals in the game with a 28-26 lead after one half.
After a continued back-and-forth battle in the second half, Miller prevailed 64-56 to advance.
Leivan led scoring for the Lady Cardinals with 22 points finishing just ahead of Ashlynn Helton with 18. Rachel Nunez finished with 11 and Johnson had eight. A pair of seniors concluded scoring as Alexis Bailey had three and Kendall Neely had two.
The win advanced Miller to their eighth straight district championship appearance against host school Ash Grove. The Lady Pirates nearly knocked off Miller in early February as Ash Grove missed a pair of free throws late that allowed Miller to hold off for the victory. The rematch did not disappoint as the two teams battled back and forth all game long. Ash Grove jumped to a 26-17 lead late in the second quarter with a barrage from three-point land hitting five in the second quarter alone. Miller used an 8-0 run to cut the lead to just one but it was Ash Grove that led 26-25 at half.
The two teams traded the lead for the entirety of the second half and Miller had a 52-51 lead with less than five seconds left in the fourth quarter. Ash Grove’s Bristol Lathrop was put in the same position that fellow sophomore Millison Sapp had just a few weeks ago, a trip to the charity stripe with the game, and in this situation a district title, on the line. Lathrop drilled both freebies to take a 53-52 lead. Ash Grove tried to deny Helton the ball but too much contact put Helton to the free throw line with 4.1 seconds left.
“I was really standing there, saying my Hail Mary’s. Just like, please let this go in,” Helton said of the moment.
The prayers were answered as both free throws fell and the final shot attempt fell short for Ash Grove, and Miller held on to the 54-53 victory.
Leivan led the way with 13 points, followed by 11 from Nunez. Helton’s clutch free throws gave her 10 to match Johnson. Neely finished with nine and Kaylee Thom had one to finish scoring.
Miller improves to 19-7 for the season with yet another district title. The Lady Cardinals battled Marionville in a rematch of Senior Night on Tuesday in the sectional round for a spot in the ever familiar quarterfinal round against either Iberia or the team that ended Miller’s season a year ago in the same game, Norwood. The potential quarterfinal game would be played on Saturday but the time and location is still to be determined.