Malden girls pick up first win in home opener

Malden’s Mariah Loya shoots a fade-away jumper over Landynn Hodges from Holcomb. Loya had 12 points in Malden's 49-30 victory over Holcomb.

Photo by Kaelin Triggs, Delta Dunklin Democrat.

MALDEN, Mo. - It was a long and enduring preseason for the Green Wave girls basketball program.

Despite the internal battles Malden girls are holding, they brought their home crowd a 49-30 win over Holcomb on opening night.

They faced the unbearable challenge of losing their head coach Ron Riddle in his recent fight against cancer early in the preseason. This loss shook the entire Green Wave community.

Following Riddle’s passing, Brian Christopher Vent was appointed the new head coach.

“This is just a different situation,” Vent said a week after Riddle’s funeral. “It’s something I’ve never faced in my years of coaching and it’s been different for the girls. But they have been our main focus, not basketball but we were focusing on them.”

Adding to their difficulties, Vent later rejected his role as head coach after undergoing back surgery.

According to him, they weren’t sure how the season would look. However, they knew they had to dedicate every game to Riddle.

Vent moved to an assistant coaching position and passed the head coach title on to Tye Miller.

On Monday night, against Holcomb, Miller picked up his first Varsity win. He lifted the Green Wave girls to a 1-1 record to start their Ron Riddle-inspired season.

“It feels good, getting that win,” Miller said. ‘Our main focus has been on the girls. We just want them to play hard and they did that, so that’s what I’m going to take away from it. They came out and played really hard and really aggressive. That’s exactly what we are looking for this season.”

It was a low-scoring first half, but Malden jumped out to a 9-3 lead over Holcomb. Malden sophomore Carsyn Cohen led her team with four points in the opening quarter.

Meanwhile, the Holcomb Hornets struggled to find the bottom of the net. They shot 0% from the field, scoring all three of their points at the free-throw line.

Holcomb junior Ava Gurley shoots a free throw during the second half against Malden.

Photo by Kaelin Triggs, Delta Dunklin Democrat.

Despite their slow start, the Hornets came back and outscored Malden in the second quarter 8-7. Senior Gabrielle Harmon scored six of Holcomb’s eight points in the second quarter. Her junior teammate Ava Gurley put up the other two points, going 2-2 at the free-throw line.

Their efforts cut the lead down to 16-11 before the half-time break.

Coming out of the half, Malden got hot. The Green Wave matched their first-half points in the third quarter alone while limiting Holcomb to nine points. This gave Malden a 12-point cushion heading into the final quarter of play where they continued to grow the lead.

The fourth quarter was Malden’s highest-scoring quarter with 17 points. Countering, Holcomb also had its best scoring performance in the final quarter with 10 points but was unable to slow down Malden defensively.

Senior Mariah Loya put up eight points in the second half, carrying her Green Wave team to victory. She would finish with 12 total points. Cohen from Malden was the team’s leading scorer with 13 points.

Along with their scoring efforts, Malden shot 60% from the free-throw line. Freshman Mynena Thornton and junior Hestania Jackson both shot 100% percent at the strike, making all of their free throws.

For Holcomb, Harmon was the lead scorer with 10 points. She went 5-5 from the free-throw line as well.

Both teams matched each other with three-pointers made, settling at one apiece. Freshman Roby (Jada) Peterson made the lone three-pointer for Malden and finished with seven total points. Meanwhile, Holcomb’s sophomore Chaytlin Hardcastle made the only three-pointer for the Hornets and scored six total points.

According to Miller, it was Malden’s defense which granted them this home-opener victory. While his girl’s defense prevented Holcomb from scoring, their effort also created more scoring opportunities in transition.

“Our defense created a lot of offense for us,” Miller said. “We came out ready to guard and were fired up when we made stops and got the ball. I came away proud of their defensive efforts tonight.”

With this loss, the Hornets fall to 1-2 to start their season. They will look to even out their record as they face the Hayti Indians on Tuesday, Dec. 10. This game will be held at Holcomb with tip-off at 6 p.m.

Malden looks to extend their record over South Pemiscot on Thursday, Dec. 12. The Green Wave will play at South Pemiscot at 7:30 p.m.

Miller hopes to come out on Thursday with the same energy defensively.

“We try and take things one game at a time,” Miller said. “I don’t know what are game plan is now or what we are looking at but we focus on our game plan at practice and see the best way to tackle it. All we want is our girls to come out and play hard, and we just have to hang our hats on them executing.”