Milford celebrates as a team after defeating Oak Hills in the first round of the D1 Southwest sectionals on Feb. 15 2024.
The Milford girls basketball team lived to fight another day as they advanced in the Division 1 Southwest sectionals with a 40-36 first-round win over Oak Hills. The Eagles will now take on ECC foe Walnut Hills in the second round on Feb. 21 at 7:30 p.m. at Lakota East High School.
Milford hadn’t played a game in two weeks coming into this one, and it looked like it in the first quarter. They were second to loose balls, lacked offensive rhythm, and didn’t have the defensive intensity needed to win a playoff game. They trailed 13-7 at the end of the 1st. “I feel like we had a lot of rust to kick off, took us a while to get in rhythm,” said head coach Matt Tolliver. The Eagles needed to pick it up or their season was going to come to an end.
The second quarter Gabby Chadwell changed the game with the energy she brought on defense, doing an outstanding job containing Oak Hills guard Ava Kammerer. Kammerer came into the game averaging 14.4 PPG, third in the Greater Miami Conference, but Chadwell and company held her to just four first-half points. We just weren’t gonna let that kid beat us” said coach Tolliver. Gabby Chadwell, who did a terrific job on defense added, “Once we started getting in our rotations we played well”. They outscored Oak Hills 13-7 in the second frame and the score was all knotted up at 20 at halftime. Violet Shuluga had a team-high eight points at the break.
Milford came out in the second half looking like a team that didn’t want their season to end. Beginning with a Violet Shuluga three with 6:15 left to go in the quarter, they went on an 11-0 run over the next three and a half minutes to open up a 31-22 lead. Shugluga was huge during this run, imposing her will on her opponents, refusing to be denied. Her team went into the final frame ahead by a score of 31-27 after the Highlanders went on a 5-0 run of their own to close the 3rd.
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