The Milford Review - Milford LIVE!

Milford Basketball Teams make it
to Second Round of Playoffs
Sports Reporting By:
by Caleb Primos
In an exciting but also disappointing week for Milford
High School basketball, both the girls’ and boys’ teams
won their first playoff game, but then exited the tournament
in the second round.
The Lady Bucs
The girls started off the week with a 58-42 win on
Tuesday, March 1 over Howard. The game started off
with a 17 to 17 tie at 2:24 in the first quarter.
After a 17-17 tie at the 2:24 mark in the first half, the
two teams traded points throughout the rest with Milford
leading at the half, 25- 21.
The girls soon pulled away from Howard and led by
11 points with 6:10 left in the fourth quarter. With
1:46 to go in the game, Milford’s 13-point lead was too
much for Howard which managed to score only four
more points over the rest of the game.
The Milford girls were led by junior Aaliyah Davis
who scored 21 points, while senior Destiny Pierce also
scored 15 points.
Two nights later, the Lady Bucs faced a Henlopen
Conference opponent in the second round, Cape Henlopen.
Milford had already lost twice to Cape, the eventual
2011 state tournament runner-up, during the regular
season, and the Bucs ended up falling short in the
tourney, 58-44. Milford lacked the scoring from Morgan
Anton and Kaitlin Reynolds that they had gotten in
the Howard game.
Only three of the Milford girls scored more than
two points in the Cape game while Cape had six players
score at least two points. The Lady Bucs also had
trouble keeping Cape player Meg Bartley under control
all night. She scored 18 points and surpassed the
1,000-point mark for her career.
Even though the Milford girls lost, senior Janee Williams
believes that the team greatly improved from last
year. She believes that having a winning record, going to
the playoffs and winning a game in the first round are
all signs of improvement.
“The team did a whole 180 and turned the team
around from last year,” said Williams.
Williams also believes that she improved throughout
the season and that being on this year’s team helped
with her teamwork and taught her how to really trust
and rely on her teammates.
Boys’ Basketball
The boys’ team defeated Wilmington Christian, 64-
53, in the opening round before falling to Hodgson,
63-58, in the second round.
In the opening round game, the boys trailed by 17
points during the third quarter, but they mounted a
comeback to win by 11 behind strong play from seniors
D.J. Cephas and Shane Letthand.
In the second round game with Hodgson Vo-Tech,
the Bucs had strong performances from many players in
a fairly evenly-matched contest, but Hodgson snuffed
any Milford rally by making key foul shots in the final
minute.
Despite the loss, Cephas believes that his team greatly
improved from last season.
“I think [the season] has been really beneficial for the
program because before these last few seasons the Milford
basketball teams were not as talented. Our team really
turned it around by working hard and showed that
it is possible to strive with a little determination. So as a
whole, I think it was a good benefit,” said Cephas.