Alumni Hall of Fame
Athletic (2020)

Nikki Miars is a member of the Memorial High School Class of 1995. For four seasons from 1991 to 1995, Nikki Miars dominated girls' high school basketball in Northwest Ohio. She was the catalyst for the offense that became known as the Runnin' Lady Riders. In her four years, the Lady Riders went 73-19.

Miars dominates the record books of Memorial High School girls' basketball:
  - most career points - 2,006 points
  - most points scored in a game - 46 points vs. Van Wert, 1992-1993
  - most points scored in a season - 579 points, 1994-1995
  - most career rebounds - 816 rebounds
  - most field goals in a career and a season - 771 and 217 respectively
  - most free throws made in a career - 412 free throws
  - most three pointers scored in a game - 9 vs. Parkway, 1994-1995
  - most assists in a career, season, and game - 576, 175, and 15 respectively

Miars is one of only forty-two players in Ohio High School Girls' Basketball history to score over 2,000 points in a career. As a sophomore, Miars and junior teammate, Connie Hamberg, led the Tod Scarpella coached Roughriders to a Western Buckeye League title and a regional tournament appearance in 1993. The 1993 - 1994 team, led by Miars, set a school record of most wins in a season at 22, tied ten years later by the 2003-2004 MHS girls' basketball team. Miars was named a First Team Western Buckeye League Player four times and Western Buckeye League Player of the Year three times. She was also the Northwest Ohio Division II Player of the Year and First Team All-Ohio three times respectively. Nikki Miars also played in the Ohio North-South game and the Ohio-Indiana game. She was a finalist for Ohio's Miss Basketball.

After graduation, Miars was a four-year varsity player for the University of South Carolina Gamecocks from 1995 - 1999, who battled national powers like Vanderbilt University, University of Florida, University of Kentucky, Louisiana State University, and the perennial powerhouse Pat Summit led University of Tennessee Volunteers. In her 100 career starts, Miars scored 1, 263 career points, had 386 assists, and 369 rebounds and averaged 11.7 points and 3.6 assists per game for her career. She was named All-South Eastern Conference after the 1996-1997 season.



Nikki would later coach the Roughrider Girls' basketball team from 2014-2017. After her three seasons of coaching, she ranked sixth all-time in career Rider coaching wins for girls' basketball at 38 victories. In 2018, Nikki Miars was inducted into the inaugural class of the St. Marys Girls' Basketball Hall of Fame.

For her record-setting athletic performances at Memorial High School and the University of South Carolina, and her mastery of all facets of the game: ball handling, rebounding, passing, leadership, and a sweet shooting touch; the St. Marys Memorial High School Alumni Foundation inducts Nikki Miars into the St. Marys Memorial High School Alumni Foundation Hall of Fame for Athletic Achievement.

The above text, in its entirety, is embossed on a St. Marys Memorial High School Alumni Hall of Fame plaque permanently on display in Memorial High School.