Prep Girls Basketball: Miron lifts Lady Wolverines past Menahga, 80-59 (UPDATED) (VIDEO ADDED)

Menahga, Minn.—Emily Miron had a career night for Wadena-Deer Creek during Thursday’s 80-59 non-conference victory over Menahga.

The Lady Wolverines’ 6-foot-2 center lit up the Lady Braves for 46 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocks, easily outdueling Menahga’s star player, 5-foot-3 shooting guard Tarah Cleveland, who contributed 28 points, three rebounds, five assist and two steals.

“‘Unbelievable’ is probably the best word to describe Emily’s performance tonight,” said Wadena-Deer Creek head coach Keith Ferris. “I’m at loss for words right now, but I can tell you that she had an amazing game. I felt for the most part that her success was due to the incredible unselfish play of her teammates, who continously fed her the ball.”

The Lady Wolverines would end up dishing out 25 assists on the night with Caitlin Volkmann contributing a team-high six feeds and Hope Theisen five.

Menahga got out of the gate quickly as Cleveland hit three free-throws after getting fouled attempting a three-pointer. The junior later added a trey to give the Lady Braves the 6-2 lead before Menahga suddenly went scoreless for the next seven minutes.

Wadena-Deer Creek took advantage of the Lady Braves dry spell to go on a 20-0 run. Miron notched 12 points during the span—including a pair of back-to-back traditional three-point plays—and finished out the first half with 18 points.

Cleveland’s three-pointer at the 10:07 mark ended the Menahga scoring drought. The Lady Braves slowly chipped away at the Wadena-Deer Creek lead as Jenny Skoog scored the next nine points for Menahga to make it 31-18.

Menahga outscored the Lady Wolverines 12-7 in the final 4:53 of the first half and trailed 38-26 at the break. Four players already carried double digits into the locker room: Miron and Volkmann (10 points) of Wadena-Deer Creek and Cleveland (13 points) and Skoog (12 points) of Menahga.

Cleveland hit a three-pointer to start off the second half, but the Lady Braves just couldn’t find an answer for Miron, who shredded the Menahga zone defense for 10 of the Lady Wolverines’ next 13 points. Miron went on to tally 28 points in the second half—including a streak of 14 points in the last 4:28 of the game.

“We were able to move the ball around against their zone defense,” Ferris explained. “The girls were patient and waited for the open shots. Emily definitely had the hot hand tonight. Menahga just couldn’t stop her and we kept feeding her the ball.”

Wadena-Deer Creek went on to outscore the Lady Braves 42-33 in the second half.
The Lady Wolverines shot 51 percent from the floor with Miron dropping in 19 field goals and going 8 for 9 from the free-throw line. However, the junior fell short of the school record by five points.

The Wadena-Deer Creek school scoring record belongs to Rhonda Birch, who netted 51 points in an 80-79 loss to Frazee on February 16, 1993.

Avery Jackson scored nine of her 13 points in the second half for the Lady Wolverines. After tallying 10 points in the first half, Volkmann was held scoreless the rest of the game, but the junior point guard was content to dish off the ball to an open teammate. Hope Theisen added five points and Melissa Moenkedick netted six points.

The Lady Wolverines shot 86 percent (19 for 22) from the charity stripe—including 8 of 10 attempts down the stretch to cement the victory.

Menahga went 19 for 52 (37 percent) from the floor and 9 of 13 (69 percent) from the free-throw line. Cleveland was a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe in the loss.

Skoog finished with 18 points for the Lady Braves, who lost two straight after starting the season with a three game win streak. Shelby and Arielle Pihlaja each had three points while Alicia Ahlf notched two points before fouling out with less than two minutes to play. Beth Tormanen added five points and a team-high seven steals.

Wadena-Deer Creek (5-2) will host Class 2A, ninth-ranked Pelican Rapids (6-1) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Menahga (3-2) looks to rebound against Eagle Valley at 7:45 p.m. Thursday.

Wadena-Deer Creek at Menahga on December 15
Lady Wolverines 80, Lady Braves 59
WDC 38 42—80
Menahga 26 33—59
Wadena-Deer Creek—Hope Theisen 5, Caitlin Volkmann 10, Emily Miron 46, Avery Jackson 13, Melissa Moenkedick 6
Menahga—Shelby Pihlaja 3, Beth Tormanen 5, Arielle Pihlaja 3, Jenny Skoog 18, Tarah Cleveland 28, Alicia Ahlf 2