MILFORD — With seven seniors back from last year’s Southern Nebraska Conference Tournament championship team, the Milford girls basketball squad was pretty well set for this season.

But the Eagles were more than happy to add one more, especially a player the caliber of freshman guard Taylor Moore.

Moore has blended in with a veteran team, one of the reasons the Class C-1 No. 9 Eagles are off to a 15-2 start and into the semifinals of the conference tournament. Milford eliminated Sandy Creek (11-9) on 53-32 Monday to advance to the next round Thursday.

Moore led a balanced Milford attack with 14 points and senior Savannah Lohmeier chipped in 11 points and nine rebounds.

“I knew right away seeing her play in junior high that she needed to be on varsity,” said Milford coach John Lohmeier, the father of Savannah. “There were three things I told her that she needed to do to fit with the seniors — she had to keep quiet, be very humble and work extremely hard. She’s done just that.”

So, do the seniors make Moore do freshman-like chores, like picking up in the locker room or shagging balls at practice?

“No, not at all, we like her,” Savannah Lohmeier said. “We watched her play in junior high and knew she was going to be a good player. We knew she’d fit right in.’’

Fitting in with this group of seniors means making the extra pass to set up a teammate for the easy shot inside and not paying attention to statistics.

“No one really cares who scores, the only thing that matters is that we win,’’ Moore said.

The elder Lohmeier has coached this group of seniors since fifth grade, “and their saying for years has been ‘No individual stats, team is all that counts,’” he said. “We don’t post the individual statistics on the board, the girls don’t want to see them. They’re only interested in the team stats.”

The one team stat that means the most is the 15 victories, one more than last year, when Milford went 14-9. The Eagles got their signature victory of the season last Tuesday, handing Class C-2 No. 3 Sutton its first loss of the season 54-48 at Sutton. They’ve won 10 straight since losing 51-46 to Class C-2 No. 9 Heartland in the finals of the Heartland Holiday Tournament.

Milford gets a rematch with Heartland in Thursday’s semifinals. And there could be another game with Sutton in either the championship or third-place game Saturday. The final two rounds are at Milford.

Moore had 16 points in the win at Sutton, while senior Shauna Stauffer chipped in 14.

The Eagles’ balanced scoring and up-tempo style make them tough to defend, but so do the interchangeable positions they can play. Lohmeier, Moore and senior Traci Aschoff all trade off playing point guard.

Reach Ron Powell at 473-7437 or rpowell@journalstar.com.