Linden girls beat Pleasant Home to move to state semifinals

DOTHAN – Linden senior point guard Dajia Miller has a knack for staying calm in the highest pressure situations. That intangible helped put Linden back in the Class 1A semifinals Tuesday as the Patriots downed Pleasant Home 42-38 in the South Regional title game.

“I think what it all boils down to is defense. Defense is what carried us through this game,” Linden coach Teressa Bolden said of an effort that saw her team force 18 turnovers.

Miller finished the night with only six points but four of them proved to be the entire difference in the game. With the score knotted at 38 and the Pleasant Home defense pressuring Amber Richardson high near the circle, Miller took a pass and shook an Eagle defender on her way to a game-changing layup with 27 seconds left to put her team up 40-38.

“Coach was telling me the whole game that the left side was open. I just wouldn’t take it,” Miller said of the game’s pivotal shot. “I took her right and then came back real fast left. They went out too far trying to guard the three and they just gave me the lane.”

After Alaysia Burns stole the ensuing inbound passes coming out of a Pleasant Home timeout, Miller added a free throw to push it to 41-38. Richardson rebounded the miss and kicked it right back to Miller. After missing the front end of the double bonus, Miller iced the game with another shot from the strip with 3.4 seconds to play.

The sequence came after Linden entered the game’s final 2:52 without having made a single free throw on the night.

The Patriots trailed 20-15 at half but found their footing with a 10-2 run early in the third quarter. Richardson accounted for seven of those points to tie the game at 22. She then grabbed an offensive rebound with 5:55 to go in the third and dished off to Precious Rogers who drained a three to put the Patriots up 25-22.

Pleasant Home played a portion of the third quarter without 6-5 junior center and Florida State commit River Baldwin, who went down with an apparent ankle injury. During her absence, the Linden proved unable to take advantage. With 4:37 left in the quarter, Baldwin returned to take back over the paint and restore normalcy for Pleasant Home.

“We turned it over so much right there because I think we were trying to hurry up and get in the lane because River was gone in the time that she was out,” Bolden said.

Baldwin powered through a foul and knocked down a shot with 6:09 left in the game to tie put Pleasant Home up 35-33 before stepping to the line and knocking down the bonus for the three-point advantage. Lazorreya Coleman made two free throws with 5:37 to go to push the Eagle lead to 38-33.

A personal 4-0 run from Richardson and the assessing of Baldwin’s fifth foul with 2:50 to play opened the door for the Miller’s heroics.

Richardson, the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, finished with 20 points and seven rebounds. Rogers added 10 points. Baldwin led Pleasant Home with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Miller and Tyroneisha Charleston were each on the all-tournament team for Linden.

The victory moves the Patriots to the state semifinals for the second time in three seasons.

“Play to the buzzer goes off. You’ve got to hustle. It’s about who wants it,” Richardson said of the approach her team must take finish climbing the proverbial mountain top. “At the end of the day, there can’t be but one winner. If you’re going to take it, take it. You can’t lay down.”

Linden (19-3) will play at Legacy Arena in Birmingham Monday at 9 a.m. against Phillips.