MILLER NETS 1,000TH CAREER POINT IN 56-13 WIN OVER COWANESQUE VALLEY

By: Tim Birney  /  January 29, 2021  /  Photo: David Alliger

ATHENS — It was quite a day for Kayleigh Miller. In a two-hour span, the Athens senior signed her National Letter-of-Intent to play at Penn College, then scored her 1,000th career point in the Lady Wildcats’ 56-13 win over Cowanesque Valley here Friday.

Miller, who scored 13 points in the win, is currently second all-time in school history in 3-pointers made. Appropriately enough, a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter pit her over the 1,000-point plateau, and that fact wasn’t lost on her coach-father Brian Miller.

“The 3-pointer has been her forte since she was a little freshman, out there playing for coach (Kelly) Burkhart and making 3s, supporting Emily Lunger and Kara Chapman. She would always step up and hit the big 3 to help the team.

“Four years later, she’s become a complete player,” said Miller. “Her forte is being a shooter, and knocking down 3-pointers; it was nice for her to get her 1,000th point with a 3-pointer.”

Kayleigh Miller became the seventh girls in school history to eclipse 1,000 points, following in the footsteps of Jennifer Nichols (1,528 points), Maryellen Onofre (1.512), Emily Lunger (1,270), Taylor Clark (1,256), Michelle Shaffer (1,143), and Kelly McCarty (1,022).

Brian Miller was pleased with the Lady Wildcats’ team play.

“I thought we shared the ball very well,” he said. “(CV) played man-to-man defense, and we ran our sets.

“They were playing physical, and we found some nice offensive flow, and had some nice passes, especially to Caydence (Macik) finishing around the basket,” added Miller.

Of course, defense was once again the cornerstone in the win as Athens allowed just one field goal in the first half.

“I thought we played great defensively,” said Miller. “We contested every shot … we didn’t give them many good looks at all.

“I thought we played 32 good minutes of defense. That’s what we were focusing on … we wanted to look good to get ready for Tuesday night’s game,” added Miller in reference to his Lady Wildcats’ showdown with unbeaten Towanda.

Miller scored five points in the opening stanza, and junior Caydence Macik and senior Megan Collins added four points apiece as Athens raced out to a 15-2 lead.

Macik pumped in 11 points in the second quarter, and sophomore Karlee Bartlow added four points to fuel a 19-0 blitz that pushed the Lady Wildcat advantage to 34-2 at the half.

Macik, who was 9 of 11 from the field, led Athens with 24 points and one blocked shot, while Bartlow added seven points, two assists, and one blocked shot, and Collins chipped in with six points and three assists.

Miller also had five assists, two steals, and a blocked shot in the win, while seniors Rachel Stephens and Hannah Blackman each had three rebounds and two assists.

Renee Abbott led CV with six points.

Athens, now 9-1, travels to face Towanda (7-0) Tuesday.