The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
There must be something in the Miller family’s genes engineered to make them deadly from downtown on a basketball court.
Reminiscent of her older sister, Diamond Miller conducted a clinic from the 3-point zone March 3 as the Franklin High School Lady Warriors cruised past the Westfield Blue Devils, 67-46, in the Group IV, Section II, semi-finals at the high school.
Miller, in her second year of playing for the Warriors, led all scorers with 23 points – 15 of them coming from the 3-point zone. Also scoring double-digits was senior Monique Davis-Campbell, who chipped in 14 points and could not miss from the foul line.
Kennedy Schenck, Keona Schenck and Camille Gray each contributed eight points to the effort. Tiana Jackson scored four points and Serena Jackson scored two.
The Warriors started off quickly, building a 13-7 lead with about two minutes left in the first period. But Westfield stormed back, outscoring Franklin 7-4 in those final minutes to end the frame down by three, 17-14.
The second quarter started off a bit shaky for Franklin, but the Lady Warriors regained their focus and built a double-digit lead, 28-16, with about three minutes left in the half. Franklin ended the quarter with a 10-1 run, entering halftime with a commanding 38-20 lead.
Tight defense, forcing Westfield to turn over the ball and some hot shooting gave the Lady Warriors a 51-30 lead at the end of the third quarter.
The teams evened out in the final frame, scoring 16 points each, and leaving Franklin with a 67-46 victory and a ticket to the sectional finals.
“We played well,” Warriors coach Audrey Taylor said after the game. “Defensively we made the stops we needed to make, which I think kinda got them out of their rhythm, which helped us. Our defense inspires our offense,so as long as we’re locked in on defense, we usually can turn it round when it comes to offense.”
“Diamond was on fire today,” Taylor said. “She was absolutely on fire, which was a beautiful thing to see. Her shot was going down, that sparks the rest of the team as well. Overall, I think they played well, they earned it.”
Taylor had praise for Davis’ free-throw touch, as well.
“Mo’s making her free throws, Diamond’s making her threes, they’re all coming together at the right time and they’re playing like a team and they’re encouraging one another,” she said. “As long as they’re doing it as a team and nobody’s trying to put it on their back and do it one-on-one we have a chance to go far in this.”
Miller’s sister Adriana, the FHS girls’ basketball program’s all-time leading scorer, was also deadly from the three-point range. Diamond Miller – who has already doubled her three-point shot production from last season with 63 – said she can tell by how the ball travels whether she has her shot.
“When I look at the ball in the air and I’m like, oh, that’s good,” she said. “And that’s when I’m on, and when I’m on, I’m on.”
She said her ball handling during the game was “kind of shaky at some points, but I put it together for my team.”
“We did excellent, we did all the hustle plays, we were making shots, which was great,” Miller said. “Everything was just going our way this game.”
The Lady Warriors face off against Bridgewater at 6 p.m. March 6 at FHS, for the sectional finals.
2017 FHS Lady Warriors vs Westfield
