Miles’ hot streak has Schreiner women in the SCAC race

When Demauria Miles is open on the wings or in the corner, there’s an instinctive reaction to raise your hands in the air. It’s a two-pronged feeling combined into one action — the joy of a 3-point basket.

Miles doesn’t do a lot of talking, she’s admittedly one of the quietest members of the Schreiner University women’s basketball team, but she’s proving herself with a torrid scoring explosion powering the Mountaineers into a six-game winning streak and still in the hunt for a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference championship.

In her last four games, Miles averaged 28.2 points per game. Miles leads the SCAC in scoring, 3-point shooting and is in the top 10 in other statistical categories.

“She’s constantly moving,” Schreiner coach Stacey Stephens said of the fluidity of Miles’ game. “She’s always kind of just floating and like the pass happens and she’s moving to a different spot. She does that very well; she communicates with her teammates well, and they all work together.”

Miles came to Schreiner under previous coach Sam Davidson, who left before Miles came to Kerrville. At Hebron High School in Little Elm, just north of Dallas, Miles stood out on a team that went from a 3-20 in her first year to a perennial Division 6A playoff contender.

“I knew I was going to be in good hands whenever we started having meetings and talking through playing with the team,” Miles said of being introduced to Stephens, who has a deep basketball resume, including at the University of Texas and in the WNBA. “I know that we have a bright future.”

Miles set the tone for the year in her first game this season with a 31-point performance, including eight 3-pointers, in a hard-fought 85-82 victory. In her first season, Miles averaged 11 points per game as Stephens tried to find her way to managing a team she was getting to know. Miles’ first three games were scoreless, and she came off the bench in the first 10 games in the 2021-2022 season.

However, in game 11, Miles got the start and scored 16, and she’s been in the starting lineup in 35 consecutive games since then. She’s the first to admit that the transition from the Dallas-Fort Worth Area to the Hill Country was a bit of a struggle at first.

“When I first got here last year, it was kind of rough,” said Miles, who is studying exercise science. “I was struggling because it’s all new here. So now I’m pretty used to it, and it’s going well.”

Stephens is the first to mention that Miles’ grades accurately indicate her progress — a 3.3 grade point average last semester. But on the court, Stephens says there’s plenty of room for Miles to continue to grow.

“She keeps working hard and doing stuff, and she does really well when you explain things a little bit to her,” Stephens said.

With a week off, Miles and her teammates must prepare hard for their next assignment — a Jan. 31 showdown against visiting and nationally No. 1 Trinity University before making a road trip to Colorado Springs to face Colorado College.