Malden Green Wave ends 40-year drought with historic District Championship victory

MALDEN, Mo. - The Malden Green Wave girls basketball team was crowned District Champions for the first time in 40 years.

They won the title after beating the South Pemiscot Bulldogs on Saturday, March 1, with a final score of 56-37.

For senior guard Mariah Loya, this journey has been a dream come true. As a freshman, her Green Wave squad only won three games total. She watched as the team continued to progress and finally bring a District title back to Malden.

Prior to the championship game, Loya said she found herself filled with nerves. She knew how big this moment would be. Not only for her, but for the entire Malden community.

“I was nervous all day long,” Loya said. “I didn’t even want to think about basketball. I didn’t even want to talk about the NBA or college basketball. Then I came and saw my teammates and knew this game was ours. We were a faster team. You could put any five of us on that court today, and I knew we were all ready to play the best we could. Those nerves went away, and I had a feeling it was going to end the way it did.”

Malden head coach Tye Miller knew they had a height disadvantage against South Pemiscot. However, he did not let this deter him or his teammates.

They took away this disadvantage with their high intensity and speed. They held a full-court press for the majority of the game, which forced a lot of steals and buckets in transition.

According to Miller, he just wanted to turn the nerves his team had heading into this game into adrenaline on the court.

“You expect nerves in big games like this,” Miller said. “As long as it’s energetic nerves, that’s okay. We’ve worked for four months for this game. The only thing left for us to do was play hard and have fun doing it. [South Pemiscot’s] has two big girls who are very great players and we are pretty small. So we had to take them out of the game by keeping the ball out of their hands. That’s why we pressed so hard and worked so hard for those steals.”

The Green Wave began to pull away early in the first quarter, with their defense limiting the Bulldogs to only two points.

Those two points were scored by South Pemiscot senior Ta’Kylah (TK) Wooden. She managed to gain some momentum after the slow start and finished the game with 23 points, the most on either team.

However, Malden’s lead continued to grow behind their pressure defense.

Malden freshman Mynena Thonton got things going, sinking an open three-pointer to start the competition.

She finished the game with three made three-pointers and led the team with 17 total points. Loya pointed out the trust all of her teammates have in each other as another big factor in their win.

“For the younger ones, half of them are freshmen, so they have never been in this situation before,” Loya said. “I’ve been to championship games and come out on the other side, so as a senior, I knew I had to talk to them and work the nerves out. For me as well, if shots weren’t falling for me, they would most likely fall for someone else, and that’s exactly what happened.”

Loya was not in a slump for long. Although she only had three points in the first half, she came out and led the team in scoring during the second half. She would finish the game with 10 total points.

As the Green Wave celebrated this historic feat, the win felt bittersweet for Loya and her teammates as they continue to mourn and honor their former coach, Ron Riddle.

“This was his goal for us,” Loya said. “This is his goal. We talked about it every day, this entire season was for him. We wanted to win this because it’s been 40 years, but we wanted to win this for Coach Riddle and his family.”

For Miller, as this is his second season with the Green Wave, Malden was his first job out of college. After Riddle’s passing, Miller was moved into the head coaching position.

In his first year as a head coach, this will represent Miller’s first ever District title.

“I’m very lucky,” Miller said. “With the group of girls we have, I realize how lucky I am. Sometimes, they act goofy, just as high school kids tend to do, but I let them express that because that’s what makes this fun. If everything is regimented, they won’t have fun, and the main goal of high school sports is to have fun and learn lessons while doing it.”

Along with this, Miller said there is nothing more fun than winning.

After a 17-8 season and a District title, Miller congratulated his players for battling the adversity they faced this season.

“I would definitely say [Riddle] is looking down and smiling at us right now,” Miller said. “We talked about it before the game, and I just told our girls to play hard for him right now. This is what he wanted, so let’s get the job done.”

This win advances the Green Wave to the Class 2 State tournament, where they will compete against Neelyville for the Sectional title.

Malden will host the sectional game against Neelyville on Tuesday, March 4, at 6 p.m.