RICHMOND — He’s been in this position before, but his players haven’t. Yet you wouldn’t notice it by the way James Braxton’s squad handled Broadwater in the semifinals of the VISAA Division 3 tournament. After a somewhat slow start, Miller jumped out to an early lead, and behind a 35-point performance from Ashley Bowles, the Mavericks are heading to the finals on Saturday with their 59-40 victory over the Vikings.
“There’s one more game,” Braxton said. “I’m not going to put any pressure on them because it is what it is. I’ve been here several times and they haven’t. And what I feel like is different from how they feel and I want to keep it that way.”
The two teams managed just three total points in the game’s first three minutes, but once Miller found its shooting hand, everything came easy as they jumped out to a 7-point lead in the first quarter before extending the gap to 12 at the half.
Nothing changed in the third quarter as the Mavericks built on their lead to go up by as many as 19 points. In the middle of the fourth quarter Broadwater was able to put together a small run to cut the deficit to 13 points, but that was as close they would get as the Mavericks were calm and collected all game.
“I think a lot of that comes from Ashley,” Braxton said. “She doesn’t do a lot of jumping and yelling and so the rest of the team seems to follow her lead like that.”
Bowles had her way both inside and outside, piling up layups and hitting three’s with ease. The junior guard had 20 of her team’s 28 first half points and finished the game with four 3-pointers.
“We all practice shots from all over the court,” Bowles said. “(Shot variety) is something that we should have in all games because we work so hard at in practice.”
Whitney Martin put up yet another double-double, scoring 12 points while bringing down 11 rebounds. The sophomore averages 11 boards a game and has pleased her coach with her continued development.
“She’s been doing a great job,” Braxton said. “When (Ruta Lizdenyte) shoots, she’s often doubled and Whitney goes up to the boards and that’s what she should do. Now’s she’s really starting to find some confidence and take off the dribble, something she’s definitely capable of doing.”
Martin wasn’t alone in the rebounding departmanet. Bowles and Lizdenyte gave Miller a trio of players with at least seven rebounds.
“We’re bigger than most teams so that’s something we definitely should be doing,” Braxton said. “Sometimes that’s been a problem for us this year because we tend to stand and watch just because we’re taller.”
The Mavericks will return to Richmond on Saturday at 3:30 with hopes of coming back to Crozet with a title.
“We want this and if you want something, you’ve got to out hard to get it,” Bowles said. “We’re so close.”
