Derrick Webb, Managing Editor
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
COLUMBUS — For just a brief moment, early in Saturday’s first quarter, Unioto’s Milee Smith sent a hush across an entire gymnasium.
The senior star, while working on a defender near mid-court, fell to the hardwood in pain.
It, collectively, took her team and their supporters’ breath.
But moments later, she checked backed in and let Bishop Hartley know that it had poked the bear.
And from that point on, she was absolutely not going to be denied. In fact, she should’ve charged for admission to the clinic she put on.
Her 42 points and 14 rebounds powered Unioto to a 66-44 win in a Division III regional championship — the program’s fourth regional title and its first since 1995.
“This is something we’ve dreamed of, getting to the Final 4,” Smith said. “I just felt like the community was huge tonight and the team played great. I’m just so proud of everybody on this team. When I went down, I was like, ‘I’m not sitting out this game. I’m going back in. Definitely. I just want to give thanks to my teammates who gave me the ball. They had confidence in me and I had confidence in them. It showed how we played as a team.”
CREDIT: Cory Hall/SOSA
The Tanks are moving on.
Destination: Dayton.
Unioto’s Keyairah Beard started the day’s scoring with an immediate bucket at the 7:55 mark of the first quarter.
She then handed the reins to Smith, who gladly accepted the gesture and immediately went to work.
She scored three points the hard way to start the party before drilling back-to-back triples at the 4:10 and 3:48 marks, pushing the lead to 14-2.
Hartley finally stopped the run with a free throw and a basket underneath but Beard answered with a jumper, making it 16-5.
Smith then ended the first with another bucket through contact, putting the Shermans up 19-7.
She picked up where she left off in the second, too, sinking another triple with 7:02 to go, making it 22-7.
The Hawks began to battle back, though.
PHOTOS: Images from Unioto’s regional championship win over Bishop Hartley
With their feet underneath them, they slowly cut into the deficit behind the duo of Naomi Burnett and Meara Mullins.
After Smith hit two free throws with 1:59 left, Mullins and Burnett each scored for a 26-19 halftime count.
“At halftime, I felt like we had to find a way to get other scorers involved and have other step up,” Unioto coach Jeff Miller said. “We hit some big shots in some crucial situations and there were even times where I’m sure people who were watching the game were like, ‘They need to pull it out and run the clock.’ But that’s not who I am as a coach.
Smith restored order in the third, where she was lights out.
She scored to begin the frame before nailing a triple for a 31-19 count. Later, she’d hit yet another trey for a 42-29 score and repeated the process to make it 45-29.
By the start of the fourth, Unioto had a comfortable 47-31 advantage.
Not much changed in the final eight-minutes stretch. Beard hit a 3 early, Kiley Puckett followed suit with 5:49 left and Smith hit her final deep ball for a 58-38 score.
Cruise control was enabled from there.
Statistically, Smith’s 42 points, 14 rebounds and three assists were accompanied by Beard’s 12 points and Maggie Holbert’s five points, eight rebounds and seven helpers.
“I’ve went to girls and boys state [basketball] tournaments for probably 45 years,” Miller said. “I’ve seen it all. And [Smith’s] performance was one of the best I’ve ever seen. The crazy thing is that no one will really understand this unless you’ve gotten to know Milee. That performance was because she wanted her teammates to feel success. She didn’t want the attention on her. She wanted her teammates to know what it’s like to win a regional title.”
As a team, Unioto was 12-of-25 from the 3-point arc.
The Shermans now advance to a Division III state semifinal at 1 p.m., Thursday at Wright State University’s Nutter Center.
They’ll face Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary.
“We just have to make sure that we’re focused every day in practice. You never know what the next game is going to have,” Holbert said. “We’re taking God’s hand through it all and He’s going to place us where He wants us to be at. That’s where we’re standing.”
“I can tell you this. We’ve tried to prepare ourselves for this situation since these guys came into high school,” Miller said. “I mean, we’ve played the best of the best. I brought Kiley Puckett to Cedar Point as a freshman. She’s dribbling the ball up the court against Saniyah Hall, who is now the number one player in the nation. I remember her asking who the girl was. I was like, ‘Don’t worry about it. We’ll you tell you about it later.’ So how would we be intimidated now? We won’t be. We’re going to go Thursday and we’ll be ready to play.”
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