Austy Miller breaks 37 year record to become Lady Railroaders all-time scoring leader.
BRADFORD – Austy Miller became the Bradford Lady Railroaders all-time leading basketball scorer breaking mark of 1,754 points set by Julie Cascaden in 1985 in Thursday night’s 47-35 win over the Troy Christian Lady Eagles.
“I was super excited,” Miller said following the game. “I couldn’t do it without my teammates ultimately.”
“Couldn’t have worked out better,” said Bradford coach, Chris Besecker. “Last home game of her career.”
Miller came into the night leading the Western Ohio Athletic Conference (WOAC) with a 22-points per game average on the 2021-2022 season needing 23-points to break the 37 year old scoring record in non-conference matchup with the Troy Christian Lady Eagles.
“She’s a real pleasure to coach,” Besecker stated. “She’s just been steady for us. She’s a tremendous talent with the ball in her hands and it’s just knowing you have that kind of player on the floor just kind of eases your mind a little bit as a coach.”
Troy Christian kept a player and at times two and three defensive players on Miller at all times making points hard to come by for the Lady Railroaders senior.
The 5’5″ senior guard could only muster 8-first half points until burying a 3-pointer with 0:00 showing on the game clock as the ball got nothing but net to give Miller 11-points at the break, still 12-points shy of the mark.
Playing in her final career home game, Miller continued to find points coming hard as she could only add 2-point to the third quarter needing 10-points going into the final quarter of play.
“In late game situations we want the ball in her hands – that’s bottom line,” said Coach Besecker.
Miller hit a basket late in the fourth period to tie the Bradford scoring mark but breaking the record on this night look doubtful until the sharpshooting Miller drove to the bucket with a scooping layup only to be fouled keeping the ball from going in but sending Miller to the free throw line for two shots with just seconds left on the clock.
Miller calmly stepped to the line getting all net to establish the new Bradford Lady Railroaders scoring mark. The second shot missed the mark with the buzzer quickly sounding. With the record in the books and no time remaining to be played, the usual game stopping ceremony took place immediately following the game.
“I’m pretty used to pressure free throws,” Miller said. “The last game was all about it.”
Miller scored in double figures every game during her senior season and was high scorer in the win with a game high 23 points.
“My teammates definitely – 100 percent,” Miller said of her teammates support over her four year varsity starting career.”
Miller now stands at 1,755 career points heading into tournament action, Tuesday, February 15 at Trotwood-Madison High School with a 5:30 p.m. start time. No. 5 seed Bradford takes on No. 3 seed Springfield Catholic Central.
