Metroâs Milliard cries tears of a crown

By Kyle Ringo
The Metropolitan

She cried hardest.

And as each droplet of satisfaction saturated her cheeks Feb. 28 after her team had won a championship, you couldnât help but feel good for Angela Milliard.

The spine tingling feeling brought on by watching her cut down her piece of the net, as her family watched from below, taught everyone who knows her a lesson.

Yes, sometimes, people are capable of accomplishing the unexpected. But more importantly, good people donât necessarily finish last.

For the record, Milliard finished her last home game as a member of the Metro womenâs basketball team with a line in the box score as modest as her personality.

In 8 minutes of action she didnât score a point, pull down a rebound, steal a pass or turn over the ball. In fact, according to the box score, Milliard started the game at forward and played 8 minutes in what was, at that point, the most important game of her life.

But what statistics donât show, memories will reflect.

Milliard left Auraria Events Center a champion.

ãI canât say what it meant,ä Milliard said. ãObviously it meant a lot.ä

She canât put the feeling into words just yet, but watching the emotion spill out of her eyes tells you all you need to know. She has never cried on the basketball court before.

Itâs a refreshing thing really. Milliard is a talented athlete who cares deeply about her performance, her team, her coach and her conduct.

By all accounts, from those who know her well, like Kristi Baxter who played with Milliard all four years of college, to those who have spent just one season in her company like Gabi Sandoval who transferred to Metro before this remarkable season, Milliard is a pleasure.

ãIâve never said, ÎAngela, will you work hard?â ä coach Darryl Smith said. ãShe has worked hard every day sheâs been here.

ãShe symbolizes our team.ä

Milliard has played at Metro for three years, which makes her the veteran on a team filled with transfers and underclassmen.

Since transferring from Northeastern Junior College in Sterling with Baxter after her freshman season, she has epitomized the overachieving player.

Milliard, at 5-foot-8, often guards the opponentsâ tallest and most physical players. Sometimes that means giving up six or eight inches in height, which you might think leaves Milliard at a disadvantage. But she refuses to be bullied. She simply outworks the competition.

Her parents, one an oil and gas company executive, the other a registered nurse, taught her to always do her best. Part of it is instinctive.

ãYou could give her a brand new sport tomorrow, and she would probably pick it up,ä her father Ken Milliard said.

Truth be told, it is title No. 2 for Milliard. In her first season at Metro, the Roadrunners knocked off the University of Denver to win the Colorado Athletic Conference. She came off the bench in that game.

But Milliard admits there is something more special about winning this time.

Maybe itâs vanquishing the ghost of last season, when Metro lost in the first round of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament to Fort Hays State. Maybe itâs the realization of a second trip and second chance at the NCAA North Central Regional Tournament. Maybe itâs because she wonât play here again ÷ ever.

Angela Milliard is not a hard luck story.

She comes from a large family, six kids in all. She has jogged on the beaches of Hawaii with her father. This is not a person weighed down by an inner-city or set back by bad parenting. And she is far from rich and spoiled.
Angela Milliard is a normal person, if there is such a thing.

That could be why watching her climb that ladder, scissors in hand, with tears streaming down her smiling face proved to be the perfect way to end a glorious season in Auraria Events Center.

ãItâs a very moving experience,ä Ken Milliard said of his and his wife Lindaâs reaction to watching their daughter cut down the net in the Events Center.

ãInside, itâs a special feeling.ä

She cried hardest.

She deserved to.