CUMBERLAND — Every player hopes their Senior Night ends like Avery Miller’s, cheering on your teammates from the bench with the game in hand.
That was the luxury afforded Allegany’s lone fourth-year, who played the role of distributor scoring just two points in the third quarter in an 18-2 onslaught that blew Mountain Ridge away.
Behind a run that topped out at 31-5, 18 bench points and a defense that held the Miners without a point for 13 minutes and 57 seconds, third-ranked Allegany earned a statement win over No. 4 Mountain Ridge, 46-24, on Monday night.
“I’m proud to see our kids get rewarded for their hard work, especially with the way things have been with the weather,” Allegany head coach Jim O’Neal said. “They’ve done a great job studying, preparing and then taking it out on the floor tonight. I was pretty impressed with their overall effort.”
The Allegany victory sets up the season’s most anticipated bout to date, as the Campers (10-1), riding a 10-game winning streak, head to No. 1 Southern (12-1), winners of six straight, on Thursday night at Ram Arena.
The two Western Maryland Athletic Conference rivals met in the season-opener, a game the Rams won 59-42.
With Allegany County Public Schools canceling school on Tuesday and Wednesday the Campers will head to Oakland without a practice between games.
Miller led all scorers Monday with 13 points to go along with nine rebounds, eight steals and three assists. Maizzy Hose hit three 3-pointers for nine points, Savannah Walton had eight points, Myia Miller dished out a team-high five assists, and Amanda Vizza pulled down eight boards.
Taylor Lamberson paced the Miners with six points, all in the first half.
Mountain Ridge (7-4) took a 16-15 lead midway through the second quarter before Allegany closed the half on an 11-3 burst to go up 26-19 at intermission.
The Campers then started the second half on a 20-2 run to slam the door.
“We didn’t come to play,” Mountain Ridge head coach Donny Carter said. “We scored five points in the second half. You don’t win any games playing like we played tonight.
“You’ve heard it all year with me, rebounding. First half we did OK rebounding. Second half, we had five girls out there watching the shot.”
The game changed when Allegany switched to a 2-3 zone. Mountain Ridge was held scoreless between Allison Tringler’s layup 33 seconds into the second half and Maci Beeman’s 3-pointer with 1:30 to play in the fourth.
The Miners, who played a 2-1-2 zone themselves before Allegany shot them out of it in the second half, appeared lost at times on offense.
“Part of that’s probably the coach’s fault, I get that, but we work on shooting in practice all the time,” Carter said. “We haven’t proven we can shoot from the outside. We can, we just don’t do it. Air balls, stuff that’s not even close, stupid passes.”
Allegany’s zone denied entry passes and had active hands, leading to points the other way.
The Campers also rebounded well on both sides of the floor. Allegany had seven offensive rebounds, and the Miners had few second-chance points.
“Second half, defensively, we did a great job limiting second shots,” O’Neal said. “That allowed us to get in transition a little bit, get some easy baskets and push the lead up.”
While Miller, a Penn State-bound track and field signee, was still the go-to option — the Camper is third all-time on the school’s scoring list with 1,422 points — Allegany’s offense had five different scorers during the decisive third quarter and three hit 3s.
Allegany’s zone offense ran to perfection, as the Campers passed to the soft spot of the defense in the short corner, found cutters, worked inside-outside and connected on skip passes.
“If we get work days, we scout ourself and we practice against any defense that we think we could see,” O’Neal said. “We talk about getting good shots. Not wasting possessions.
“The kids are really smart. They pick up on things. They play well together. They’re unselfish on the floor. It was nice to see, Madi (Cannon) and Maizzy came in and hit 3s, how happy their teammates were for them. It was fun to watch.”
After Allegany, leading 44-21 going into the fourth, scored its first bucket of the quarter with 5:23 to play, O’Neal called a timeout and pulled Miller along with two other starters.
Allegany began the game up 10-4 after eight points from Walton, including two 3s. Mountain Ridge closed the opening period scoring eight the final 12 points to force a tie at 12.
The score remained close until the middle point of the second quarter when Allegany enforced its will and pulled away.
The Miners will also likely play their next game with minimal or no practice, and it won’t get any easier with a matchup with Berlin Thursday.
Berlin holds a 12-2 record and is led by sophomore guard Coral Prosser, who holds an offer from Texas A&M.
“We told the girls, they need to come in with a different attitude if we have a practice Wednesday,” Carter said. “We’re a lot better team than the score showed tonight.”
Allegany can move into first place in the WestMAC with an upset at Southern Thursday. The Campers sit at 3-1 in the league, behind the 3-0 Rams.
“We’ve been adjusting to the weather this year,” O’Neal said. “It’s been hampering us. We have some things in place that we’re going to do the next few days to mentally prepare, and we’ll see how it goes. We don’t do excuses here. That’s not going to change.”