Abby Miller isn’t going to beat you with her mid-range jumper. She will with her three-point shooting.

The senior guard scored 23 points, including seven three-pointers, leading No. 6-ranked Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted past Minnehaha Academy 62-43 in the quarterfinals of the Class 2A girls’ basketball state tournament Wednesday at Mariucci Arena.

“I was a little nervous at the beginning of the game” Miller said. “Once I saw them in a 2-3 or 1-3-1 zone, I was pretty excited. It really calmed me down.”

Miller’s three-pointer with 10:26 remaining on the clock gave toward Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted (28-2) the lead for good at 37-35. It ignited an 11-2 run, extending the cushion to eight points three minutes later. She capped the spurt with her sixth three-pointer.

Miller went 7-for-12 from three-point range. She missed all four of her two-pointers.

“Abby is very confident in her shooting,” Lakers coach Jason Kuehn said. “When they do it with the pressure on and in the clutch, it makes your proud as a coach.”

Sophomore guard Sarah Kaminski paced Minnehaha Academy (20-7) with 14 points.

“I think we started playing better defense, that’s why we were able to stretch out our lead,” Kuehn said. The Lakers limited Minnehaha Academy to eight points over the final 10:47. “We are going to have to be a lot better both offensively and defensively in our next game.”

That will be a matchup with No. 1-ranked New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva (29-0) on Friday.

“Now, that’s going to be a challenge,” Miller said. “Obviously, they have a great team. They scored 100 points today.”


Photo gallery: Howard Lake-W-W 62, Minnehaha Academy 43