As the Lady Tigers prepare for their trip to the Final Four, I’ll be looking at each of the other three teams remaining in Class 4. First up, Republic’s opponent in the semifinals: Miller Career Academy out of St. Louis.
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Miller Career Academy (22-5) Coach: Darrin White
When the Republic Lady Tigers face Miller Career Academy in the state semifinals Friday, they might have a feeling of deja vu. That’s because the two teams met in Republic last year during the regular season, and Miller returns almost an identical squad to that one.
The Phoenix only graduated one senior off last year’s state quarterfinal team. They have six sophomores and two freshmen on the roster this year. Coach Darrin White says with such a young roster, it’s important to continue learning as the season goes on, and he thinks his team has done that this year.
“Especially the last two (losses), we played Incarnate and Fort Zumwalt West. We tried to use both of those games as lessons. There are some mistakes that we made. We went back and changed some things, and did some things to make adjustments to help us get better.”
Republic fans who saw last year’s Phoenix squad will see a similar style again Friday. “We play an up-tempo game. We run most of the time,” says White.
But White also says his team showed they can slow it down and be successful, too.
“We also played a very good half-court game against Blue Springs this year that we ended up winning,” White says. “My girls have developed some patience and some discipline that they didn’t necessarily have at the beginning of the year.”
The Phoenix compete in the St. Louis Public High League, where the competition is not especially strong. Their league games included an 89-19 win over Vashon, an 84-9 win over Gateway, and a 93-13 win over Roosevelt. White says he went out of conference to make sure his team was prepared for the postseason.
“Outside of the public high league, we try to beef up the competition,” he says. “We want to play teams that will challenge us and teams that will make us better. We live by the philosophy that steel sharpens steel.”
Republic and Miller Career Academy have one common opponent: North Little Rock. The Lady Tigers lost to North Little Rock 60-49 in the KTXR Lady Classic over Christmas Break. Miller lost, too, 59-51, in their season opener.
“They had already played 4 or 5 games, and that was our very first game of the season. I would like to think that we’ve gotten better since we played North Little Rock,” says White.
The Phoenix are led by senior Shanity James with 15.3 points per game. Braennan Farr averages 13.2, and Abrelyn Rackley and Zhanesha Dickerson average about 10 per game.
James will be the only player on the floor Friday with Final Four experience. She was on a Miller Career Academy team that finished third during her freshman season.
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