Freshman group leads Miller to Gem City title over Diamond

Dec. 4—DIAMOND, Mo. — The majority of the Miller girls' basketball team was just competing for a state championship in volleyball about a month ago.

On Saturday evening, they played against Diamond in the championship of the Gem City Classic at Diamond High School.

The Miller Cardinals came up short in that state championship, but used a balanced scoring effort to top the Diamond Wildcats 44-33 for the tournament title.

Diamond (2-2) trailed 10-9 to begin the second quarter. But Grace Frazier opened the quarter with five consecutive points — three of which came on an old-fashioned three-point play — to give the Wildcats a 14-10 lead.

"She's (Frazier) our captain," Diamond head coach Marty Atnip said. "She's our leader, our vocal leader, floor leader, so she knows what's needed. Some nights we're going to need her to score a lot but also be that distributor where she's giving everybody else an opportunity to get easy baskets."

Miller (3-0) responded quickly. A 9-0 run put them ahead 19-14 and they never looked back as they led for the remainder of the game.

"(Miller) composed themselves, especially in the second half, and we struggled to get a rhythm," Atnip said. "Tip your hat to them. They came out and they played well."

Part of that run was sparked by freshman bench player Rachel Nunez, who scored five during that stretch and went 3 for 4 from the free throw line. The other four points came on baskets from senior Hailey Mart and freshman Loghann Leivan.

The Cardinals had three freshman contributing to the scoreboard. Starter Ashlynn Helton dropped in 12 points and made two 3-pointers while fellow starter Leivan led the team in scoring with 15. Nunez finished with seven. That's 34 of the team's 44 points from those three freshmen.

"I keep telling everybody 'They're a special group,'" Miller head coach Ryan White said. "Their physical abilities, in my opinion, are just as good as anybody we're going to see. It's just the mental part of the game that they're still learning. ... and kudos to the seniors because they teach them that mental part."

A potential turning point in the game was when Diamond had two starters foul out in the fourth quarter. Both Kabrie Parmley and Makaylynn Lafferty committed their fifth fouls in the final stanza. The closest the Wildcats got in that final period was 39-32 following a steal and breakaway layup for Frazier.

"That was really the difference in the game," Atnip said. "They went to the (free throw) line 32 times. They were 20 for 32 from the line. We were 5 of 14.

"Not only did we get in foul trouble, but that was a huge key because they converted those opportunities, where we struggled. When we did get to the line, we weren't converting them."

White agreed that foul trouble was a difference maker.

"Foul trouble is always a huge difference," White said. "You get their best players in foul trouble, they have to make an adjustment that they didn't want to do. You never want to be in foul trouble."

When Nunez was on the floor she seemed to be going after every loose ball and every rebound. Whether that required her to box someone out, dive on the floor, or outjump another player, she was trying to get to the ball. That type of scrappy effort has earned her a nickname from her head coach.

"I keep calling her (Nunez) Dennis Rodman to people," White said. "She literally is just a physical specimen. She gets every rebound. She guards her butt off. Without her, we'd have to change our game. She just provides such energy off the bench and it doesn't have to be points. It's all defensive end and rebounds. Once she figures out the offensive end she'll be dangerous and hard to account for."

Diamond was led in scoring by Frazier who finished with 18. Lauren Turner was next in line with seven. Both players hit a triple.

After this tournament, Atnip hopes his team is well-prepared for its road test at Ash Grove Tuesday night and the remainder of the season.

"We wanted to be battle-tested this year," Atnip said. "We really beefed up our schedule. This tournament's always a good tournament. This is the third year in a row we've gotten second place. ... This team is too talented to be .500. We're going to put our nose to the grindstone and fix what needs fixing and we'll be better in the long run because of it."

All-tournament team included: Frazier, Lafferty and Turner from Diamond. Leivan, Helton, and Hill from Miller. Leivan was tournament MVP. Libby Fanning of College Heights also picked up honors.