Hammond Central junior Valencia Miller sets her own schedule these days.
That’s just one way life is different for the 5-foot-10 guard/forward, who transferred from Culver Academies over the summer.
“Everything was scheduled,” she said. “Now someone’s not telling me when I can do this or do that. It just gives you more freedom.”
That freedom also extends to the basketball court, where Miller has become part of a trio of scorers that has guided the Wolves (8-1) through the first six weeks of the season. She’s averaging 15.0 points, which ranks second on the team. Junior guard/forward Indiah Hutchinson averages a team-high 17.0 points, and junior guard Ciyah Thomas, a transfer from Bolingbrook in Illinois, averages 13.9.
Perimeter shooting is Miller’s hallmark. She has team highs with 19 3-pointers and 37.2 percent 3-point shooting. But Hammond Central coach O’Keisha Howard-Kirmil had to convince Miller to fully embrace that part of her game.
“There were a couple of games where she didn’t really shoot that much, and I had to tell her that if she’s open, shoot the ball,” Howard-Kirmil said. “We know she can shoot. Because a lot of teams play zone, the only way to get them out of that zone is to hit some shots.”
Hutchinson, who also noticed Miller’s hesitancy, said teammates have reminded Miller that they want her to take advantage of the shooting opportunities created by their offense.
“Sometimes it wouldn’t work for her, but we’d still tell her to let us set her up for those shots,” Hutchinson said. “She’s the shooter on this team.”
Miller said she was too focused on efficiency early in the season, watching her point-per-shot statistic so closely that she was worried it would be affected by having too many attempts.
“I’d be thinking that if I took this shot, would it go down or would it stay up?” she said.
That hasn’t been a concern lately, though. During the Wolves’ 58-22 win against East Chicago Central on Nov. 21, Miller made 4 of 8 shots from behind the arc and scored what was then a season-high 20 points. Then she made 6 of 12 3-point shots and scored 24 points during the Wolves’ 65-33 win against Bowman on Dec. 6.
Miller credited Howard-Kirmil for helping her rediscover the confidence necessary to keep shooting after making just one 3-pointer in each of Hammond Central’s first three games.
“She told me that I always need to have that same confidence and that I just need to remember that I’ve put in the work,” Miller said.
Miller said putting in extra work on perimeter shooting wasn’t possible at her previous school, where a detailed daily schedule didn’t leave much free time available for impromptu practice. That lack of additional time affected her ability to become a more well-rounded player.
“I wanted to have more freedom in my game,” Miller said. “I wanted to be able to play all of the positions. Of course, with the schedule there, it limits your time. I couldn’t go to any outside training.”
But that wasn’t the case over the summer, and the open gyms with her new teammates helped Miller develop the shot that has sparked success for her and the Wolves.
“We’ve just had a really big breakthrough as a team,” she said. “We’re communicating really well, we’re talking on defense and we’re working together.”
That work continues for the Wolves, who want to be no less successful in the postseason.
“We can be good now,” Miller said. “But we need to be great by sectionals.”
Dave Melton is a freelance reporter.
