Malden set to face South Pemiscot in chase for historic district titles

MALDEN, Mo. - When the final buzzer went off, Malden’s head coach Tye Miller grabbed the shirt off the first chair of the Green Wave’s bench and placed it in his bag.

The shirt reads ‘Riddle’ and is used to save a seat for Malden’s former coach Ron Riddle, who passed away at the start of the basketball season.

Riddle’s dream was to bring the Green Wave girls basketball program their first District title in 40 years. Now, after a 63-40 win over Hayti, the team is one step closer.

“This has been our main goal all year long,” Miller said. “We try to honor [Riddle] every game by leaving that first seat on the bench empty, but the support from other schools really shows how great of a person Ron was. Even though he wanted to beat everybody, they all respected him and the way he went about it, and that’s something we wanted to carry over. We’ve talked about it all year, just doing it for him.”

Last season, Riddle helped push the Green Wave to their first district final appearance since 2017. Unfortunately, they would fall three points short of a historic district title.

This year, in honor of Riddle, they are pushing for a different outcome.

After a night of semifinal play at Malden High School, the Green Wave will face South Pemiscot in the district finals. South Pemiscot pulled off a 49-36 upset over the No. 2 Holcomb Hornets.

No. 1 Malden vs No. 5 Hayti

After receiving a first-round BYE, Malden started their postseason against the Hayti Indians.

The fast pace fed right into Malden's best playing style, scoring in transition.

“It was definitely a learning curve for us this year,” Miller said. “As we continued to play fast-paced basketball, though, we’ve continued to get better at it. We’re just not very big, but we have some good athletes who can move pretty fast, and there aren’t many teams we’ll face that can move as fast.”

They outscored Hayti 34-15 in the first half while leaning into the fast pace.

Hayti began to mount a comeback in the second half, scoring 25 points.

Freshman Aubrey Hall and sophomore Kalaiha Jones helped keep the Indians in the game. Hall would put up 14 points, including seven points in the second half. Meanwhile, Jones finished with 11 points.

Along with these two underclassmen, junior Canasia Rhines added eight second-half points en route to finishing with 10 total points.

However, they were unable to slow down the Green Wave as they put up 29 second-half points.

Malden was led with a 21-point performance from sophomore Carsyn Cohen. She had 13 points in the first half and was also tasked with guarding Jones, one of Hayti’s primary ball handlers.

According to Cohen, her performance was simply based on the support and trust from her teammates.

“We had a good full game,” Cohen said. “We had the energy there the whole time, which helped a lot. It was really a team effort. A lot of those points were off assists from my teammates. It just shows how important team work is.”

Coach Miller preaches celebrating every victory with his team, no matter how big or small.

The incentive is there even more now, as every game represents Riddle’s legacy at Malden.

“Obviously, we want to win this for ourselves,” Miller said. “But winning district on our home floor, knowing that he’s looking down on us, would be an amazing feeling. If only he were here to experience it himself.”

No. 2 Holcomb vs No. 3 South Pemiscot

The second game of the night started with a dagger three-pointer from Holcomb junior Ava Gurley.

Unlike the Malden and Hayti matchup, this game featured taller competitors and a slower pace. There was more focus from both sides on feeding their post players or finding outside shots. Holcomb and South Pemiscot were able to match each other as they tied at eight points apiece through the first quarter.

However, in the second quarter, South Pemiscot gained a small lead and was able to pull away until the finish.

Senior Ta’Kylah Wooden became South Pemiscot’s go-to scorer as she put on a 26-game performance in the post.

Despite their loss, Holcomb saw a strong performance from Gurley, who finished with 17 points. Keyleigh Love-Mullins also put up 12 points to help lead the Hornets in scoring.

Head coach Robert Farmer said he was proud of the girls will to fight for this win, especially against a Hornets team that beat them 51-38 earlier in the season.

“Our girls deserved it this year,” Farmer said. “I have four seniors graduating, and they’ve waited since ninth grade to be here. Our chemistry is at its best right now, and I told my girls, ‘It doesn’t matter what happens at the beginning of the season; everything matters at the end,’ and we were able to prove that.”

2014 was the last time South Pemiscot made a district final appearance. This was also the last time they grabbed a district title.

As they celebrate breaking an 11-year post-season drought, the Bulldogs aren’t ready to celebrate yet. Farmer said they still have work to do as they prepare to face No. 1 seeded Malden.

“Malden is going to require a total different approach,” Farmer said. “We just have to completely slow them down. I don’t want to give them any lay-ups.”

The championship game between Malden and South Pemiscot will be held at Malden on Saturday, March 1. Tip-off is set at 2 p.m.