High school players of the week: Brandon Miller, Jessica Richardson earn POW honors

BRANDON MILLER, Brighton, basketball: The Bengals rolled to a pair of victories over Copper Hills and West Jordan last week thanks in large part to the outstanding week by this University of Utah commit.

On Tuesday Miller set a new career high with 39 points and drained a whopping 10 3-pointers. On Friday the senior was nearly as impressive, finishing with 27 points and six 3-pointers.

Brighton is 14-4 this season and a perfect 5-0 at the midway point of Region 3 play. Miller has been the catalyst to the success as he leads the team in scoring at 19.7 ppg and 53 total 3-pointers.

Miller was a Deseret News first-team all-stater last year after leading the Bengals to a runner-up finish in the 5A state tournament.

JESSICA RICHARDSON, Davis High, basketball: It isn't just Jessica Richardson's basketball skills that make her an invaluable part of the fifth-ranked Davis Darts' basketball program. It's her leadership ability.

"She's a great, great athlete, and she's worked really hard on perfecting her game offensively and defensively," said Davis head coach Anne Jones. "She's a great kid to coach; she's a captain, and the rest of the players really look to her as a leader."

And for good reason. The honor student has worked hard to make herself the team's leader offensively and defensively.

"She is just flat-out a great athlete," said Jones. "She can run the floor, she jumps extremely well. … She just holds down the middle for us. When she's on the floor, we're a much better team."

Richardson is also a varsity volleyball player and won the state title in the discus last track season.