{"id":180201,"date":"2026-03-06T02:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T02:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/180201\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T02:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T02:50:11","slug":"miller-surges-as-dolphins-reach-asun-semifinal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/180201\/","title":{"rendered":"Miller Surges As Dolphins Reach ASUN Semifinal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>                    &#13;<br \/>\n                        &#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>                <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Atlantic--Sun.png\" alt=\"Atlantic Sun Conference\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                Next Game:<\/p>\n<p>vs. Atlantic Sun Conference<\/p>\n<p>3\/7\/2026 | 1:30 PM<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                        ESPN+  &#13;\n                    <\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                    Mar. 07 (Sat) \/ 1:30 PM&#13;\n                <\/p>\n<p>                    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sidearm-story-template-next-game-opponent-logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Atlantic--Sun.png\" alt=\"Atlantic Sun Conference\"\/><\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                        vs.\u00a0Atlantic Sun Conference&#13;\n                    <\/p>\n<p>                             &#13;<\/p>\n<p>                    JACKSONVILLE, Fla. &#8212; With under 30 seconds to play, senior guard <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/womens-basketball\/roster\/makiya-miller\/8584\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"8584\" target=\"_blank\">Makiya Miller<\/a> stood tall at the free throw line. Point 27. Point 28. Her record setting night was great, but what it meant for Jacksonville women&#8217;s basketball.<\/p>\n<p>When asked about her mindset going into the game, she had a simple answer.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;To win.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Miller and Dolphins won 86-77 in the quarterfinals of the ASUN Basketball Tournament. Miller scored a career-high 28 points as Jacksonville took care of business in its first game of the postseason.<\/p>\n<p>Jacksonville had to play without ASUN Player of the Year <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/womens-basketball\/roster\/priscilla-williams\/6777\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"6777\" target=\"_blank\">Priscilla Williams<\/a> and key contributors <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/womens-basketball\/roster\/aniah-smith\/8585\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"8585\" target=\"_blank\">Aniah Smith<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/womens-basketball\/roster\/comari-mitchell\/6778\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"6778\" target=\"_blank\">Comari Mitchell<\/a>, but the entire team stepped up to fuel a Dolphins victory.<\/p>\n<p>Five players scored in double-figures, including a career-high 18 points from <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/womens-basketball\/roster\/mariah-knight\/6776\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"6776\" target=\"_blank\">Mariah Knight<\/a>. Jacksonville hit eight triples and shot 26-35 from the line to fuel the second-highest scoring output by a team in the ASUN Tournament so far.<\/p>\n<p>The Dolphins jumped out to an early lead, taking control of the game in the first quarter. Junior <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/womens-basketball\/roster\/bailey-burns\/6774\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"6774\" target=\"_blank\">Bailey Burns<\/a> knocked down a triple on the opening possession, and Jacksonville was off to the races.<\/p>\n<p>JU led 7-0, then another Burns triple put the Dolphins up 10-3 halfway through the opening period. West Georgia answered with a 3-pointer, then Knight answered with the first of her four triples on the night.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Jacksonville shot 52.63% from the field and 50% from three in the first quarter, powering the Dolphins to a 25-13 lead through the first. The second quarter slowed down slightly, but behind five points each from Miller and Knight, the Dolphins took a 13-point advantage into the second half.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Burns and Miller scored back-to-back triples to open the second half, and Jacksonville looked secure for the game. Miller got to the rack for two, putting the Dolphins up 15 &#8212; their largest lead of the game.<\/p>\n<p>The Wolves clawed back a bit in the fourth quarter, but Jacksonville kept them at arms reach. As West Georgia cut the lead to single digits, freshman <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/womens-basketball\/roster\/tatum-brown\/8578\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"8578\" target=\"_blank\">Tatum Brown<\/a> scored three points to put the Dolphins back up 10.<\/p>\n<p>The Dolphins closed it out from the free throw line, with six points from Miller alone at the charity stripe to power Jacksonville to a victory.<\/p>\n<p>Game Notes&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;\n<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\tThe Dolphins have scored at least 80 points 10 times this season, posting a 9-1 record when they eclipse the 80 point mark.&#13;<br \/>\n\tMiller has scored 50 points in the last two games, tying and then smashing her career high.&#13;<br \/>\n\tThis is JU&#8217;s third-highest scoring conference game this season.&#13;<br \/>\n\tBrown finished with zero turnovers in 40 minutes played. Brown and Miller both played all 40 minutes.&#13;<br \/>\n\tThis is Jacksonville&#8217;s first quarterfinal win since 2017-18 and 11th trip to the league&#8217;s final four.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\nPostgame With Head Coach <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/womens-basketball\/roster\/coaches\/special-jennings\/1128\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"1128\" target=\"_blank\">Special Jennings<\/a>, Senior <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/womens-basketball\/roster\/makiya-miller\/8584\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"8584\" target=\"_blank\">Makiya Miller<\/a> and Sophomore <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/womens-basketball\/roster\/mariah-knight\/6776\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"6776\" target=\"_blank\">Mariah Knight<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\nUp Next<br \/>\nThe Dolphins will face the winner of North Alabama and Central Arkansas in the ASUN Semifinal Saturday at 1:30 PM back at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; &#13; &#13; Next Game: vs. Atlantic Sun Conference 3\/7\/2026 | 1:30 PM &#13; ESPN+ &#13; &#13; Mar.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-180201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}