Wilkerson’s record too little for Miller

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March 18, 2010

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Thu Mar 18, 2010, 11:31 PM CDT

By Richard Polen

sports@joplinglobe.com

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Harrisburg withstood a record-breaking performance by Hannah Wilkerson and defeated Miller 71-60 in a Class 2 girls semifinal game Saturday night at Mizzou Arena.

Wilkerson’s 43 points broke the record of 41 set by three players, including Platte County’s Megan Johnson in the 2009 Class 4 semifinals, as the most ever scored by a girls player in either a semifinal or championship game in Columbia.

Unbeaten Harrisburg, however, began to pull away in the third quarter behind the scoring of Ashley Fisher, who had 25 points, and Shanna Proctor, who had 18.

“They have a lot of team speed and jumping ability,” Miller head coach Brandon Weiss said. “They have some fast kids. I haven’t seen a team get up and down the floor like that, especially in Class 2.”

“A lot of people doubted us from the start of the year. These girls have fought hard.”

Harrisburg head coach Brendan Cary said his team did not alter its usual defensive strategy in playing Miller.

“We just played normal on her,” he said of Wilkerson. “We wanted to keep (Nicole) Adams and (Betsy) Epps to less than 10 points.”

Adams scored seven points and Epps had six for the Cardinals, 27-5, who face Canton in the third-place game at 3:20 p.m. today. Thayer defeated Canton 64-49 in the other semifinal game.

Wilkerson scored Miller’s first six points on two 15-foot jumpers and a drive to the basket, then grabbed a rebound and tossed a court-length pass to Epps for a wide-open layup and an 8-5 lead with 3 minutes, 40 seconds left in the first quarter.

A 3-point goal by Nicole Adams gave Miller an 11-7 lead, then, with time running out and Wilkerson trapped in a corner, she couldn’t find an open teammate and chose instead to put up a leaning, off-balance 3-pointer at the buzzer for a 14-12 lead.

“Their girls were all taller than us,” Wilkerson said. “Those girls are very quick. My game is getting through the hole and getting to the free-throw line. They had the best defense we’ve seen.”

Another long pass from Wilkerson, this time to Jessica Cook, resulted in a layup and Miller’s largest lead of the half, 16-12.

Harrisburg regained the lead on a basket by Bethany Wesselmann with 5:24 left in the half and extended the lead to 27-23 on a 3-point goal by Paige Heibel with 2:10 to go.

A driving bank shot by Wilkerson pulled Miller to within 27-25, and the Cardinals went into halftime trailing 29-25.

Harrisburg outscored Miller 17-10 in a fast-paced first four minutes of the second half and took its largest lead up to that point at 46-35. A 3-point goal by Wilkerson cut the lead to 48-43 before Harrisburg scored the last four points of the third period, then the first five points of the fourth quarter for a 57-43 advantage.

“When we can’t get shots to go in, we get frustrated,” said junior guard Kaitlin Johnson, “so we just try to play harder on defense.”

Wilkerson scored seven points on three drives to the basket and a free throw that cut the lead 60-53 with 3:05 remaining, But Harrisburg began to pull away again, and two free throws by Ashley Fisher with 1:35 to go gave the Lady Bulldogs a 66-55 advantage.

“Shots may not fall for the first couple of minutes because it’s a big game and we were nervous,” Fisher said. “But you have to keep shooting and that’s what we did.”

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Wilkerson’s record too little for Miller

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