Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
PICKERINGTON — It’s really not fair at this point.
Every time Unioto steps onto the court, the Shermans have the two best players on the floor — Milee Smith and Mya Hamilton.
It’s nearly impossible just stopping one of them. Westerville South learned that lesson the hard way on Saturday.
CREDIT: Brock Netter/SOSA
Unioto’s superstar duo combined for 51 points, led by a career-best 32 points from Hamilton, as the Shermans (13-1) earned a 12th straight win with a 71-54 victory over the Wildcats at the Classic in the City, held at Pickerington North High School.
“Here we are 14 games into the season, and you can really see the connection that those two are really forming on the court,” Unioto coach Jeff Miller said. “Our team, as a whole, is really starting to gel. It’s not something that happens right from day one. It takes some time to learn and figure everything and everyone out. We’re clicking really well and playing good basketball.”
Throughout the night, but mainly in the first half, Smith and Hamilton took turns ripping apart any chance Westerville South (9-4) truly had when the game started.
Whether by jump shots or driving to the rim, the two made it clear that the Wildcats were in for a long day at the office. They combined for 19 of Unioto’s 21 first quarter points, seizing a 21-10 lead after the first eight minutes.
There was no slowing down in the second, but that’s where Hamilton began to take things to another level.
She became Unioto’s offense, playing the role of a one-woman wrecking crew while draining multiple 3-point field goals, finishing through contact and scoring in transition.
Of the Shermans’ 19 points in the second frame, Hamilton had 13 of them. The result was a 40-26 lead at halftime.
“Westerville South has some really good players, and for us to come on the road in this environment and play the way we did, I couldn’t be happier,” Miller said. “This was as well as we’ve played all season. Our kids competed and played as hard as they have in any other game. The effort was fantastic.”
However, Westerville South wasn’t going down without a fight. As Unioto backed off its defensive pressure, the Wildcats began to find their offensive rhythm.
After not hitting a free throw or a shot from deep in the first half, suddenly, they couldn’t miss and the Shermans couldn’t buy a bucket. WS’s Ariyana Cradle, Zoe Guice and Deziah Dupree led the charge, cutting what was once a 16-point deficit to seven at 52-45 going into the final eight minutes.
“We had some kids starting to get a little winded and we didn’t go deep into the bench. It also didn’t help much that we also played Friday night as well,” Miller said. “Not wanting to completely gas our kids out, we backed off our full court pressure. But that also meant we weren’t getting any points in transition. I looked up at one point and realized we only scored four points in the quarter, so we picked things up a little later once Westerville climbed back into the game.”
Despite seeing their advantage dip to just seven points, the Shermans flipped the switch back on in the fourth, and put simply, that was all she wrote.
Behind Hamilton, Smith and Amaris Betts, Unioto opened the fourth on an 8-0 run to build the lead back into double digits — where it remained the rest of the night.
Hamilton added eight rebounds and eight assists to her 32-point effort. Smith finished with 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists, Betts added 10 points, and Amelia Uhrig had eight points and six rebounds.
CREDIT: Brock Netter/SOSA
Unioto returns to action at 10:30 a.m. on Monday at Hiland High School as part of the Classic in the Country. There, the Shermans will meet with Olentangy — a Division I opponent who comes into the contest at 13-0.
“They have an elite guard in Whitney Stafford, who can really shoot the ball and handle it well. Not to mention, there’s also a 6-foot-3 post player who is a freshman, but a very talented player,” Miller said of Olentangy. “But it’s not just those two players. They all can play and there’s a reason they’re 13-0 on the season. On the other side, though, we also have a ton of really great kids who can score the basketball. As long as we play our game, share the basketball and hit those shots, we have a really good chance.”
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