MIA Girls Drop Heartbreaker on Senior Night

They fought tooth and nail Friday Night in front of a Senior Night crowd. The lead see-sawed back and forth all night. In the last two minutes alone there were multiple lead changes. When the final buzzer sounded, it was Village School’s star player, Mylee Van de Wouw, delivering a layup that spelled doom for MIA, 40-39.

“It’s always tough to lose on Senior Night,” coach Travis Barry said following the game. “But hey, they fought hard, played. hard. We got better. It was a fun game. As long as it’s a close game like that, everybody gets better."

MIA led 37-34 with 1:49 left in the game. Village School pulled ahead 38-37 with 33 seconds left. It looked like MIA may have won the game when they went ahead 39-38 with 23 seconds left, with possession of the ball. But an errant pass sent Village School on a fast break, where Van de Wouw made the winning shot.

Village School was led by freshman Van de Wouw and seventh grader, Bella Holmes, who hit five three pointers in the first half. Van de Wouw scored 16 and proved to be a strong presence underneath the basket for Village School.

Marco was led by Kathryn Barry’s 20 points - including five first half three pointers. Freshman Amelia Sanchez finished with 11 points - 10 of them coming in the fourth quarter.

The Paradise Coach Athletic Conference tournament was held earlier this week, after the Coastal Breeze News deadlines.

Barry was hopeful going into the conference tournament.

“We were faced with the same thing last year,” Barry said, “and we went all the way and won."