Slow First-Half Dooms the Milan Girls against St. Mary Catholic Central

The Milan girls’ basketball team fell to St. Mary Catholic Central 56-40, at a home game on January 12.

In the first half of play, Milan scored 15 points to SMCC’s 34. It wasn’t till later in the game when the Lady Big Reds offense started to catch some fire.

The Sun Times News followed up with Milan Coach Phil Freeman after the game.

“The team battled back from a slow start and left it all on the court,” Freeman said. “We continued to improve every game. Emily Bladen had another solid night scoring 24.”

Bladen was the leading scorer for Milan, finishing with three makes from outside from three-point range and put in 7 from the free-throw line. She was followed by Aryana Bowden with 5, Carly Obuch and Kaylee Eshelmanwith 4 points each and Ava Thornton with a three-pointer.

Even with the recent losses, the Big Reds continue to learn their roles on the team and keep up the effort and hard work as they look ahead to the next game. STN asked Freeman about his main takeaways from the game.

“We have several players in new and or expanded roles, but we are starting to gel and find our identity as a team,” he said.

Photos by Stephen Cook