Lack of leadership, game experience and first game jitters was the wrong combination for the T.R. Miller Lady Tiger basketball team Monday night at Choctawhatchee’s Thanksgiving Tournament as they began their year with a 61-12 thrashing to the Mosley Lady Dolphins.
Mosley (4-0) rushed out to a 22-0 lead in the first quarter before giving up a point to the Lady Tigers (0-1) with 52.9 left in the first quarter. The Lady Dolphins would go on and lead 24-2 after the first quarter and cruised to a 33-point lead at the half, 43-10.
In the second quarter, T.R. Miller’s offense came to life as they scored eight points—six from Lateysia Montgomery on back-to-back 3-pointers and two from Tempest Thompson. While the Lady Tigers offense started to click, the Lady Dolphins kept their offense going as they used a 10-0 run in the quarter to outscore the Lady Tigers 19-8.
In the second half, T.R. Miller was outscored 6-2 in the third quarter to trail 49-12 heading into the fourth quarter.
After scoring the final four points of the third quarter, Mosley increased their run to 16-0 to end the game with a 61-12 win.
T.R. Miller was 0-for-3 from the free throw line while Mosley was 5-for-14.
Montgomery led the Lady Tigers in the loss with six points while Thompson had four points and Shakera Nicholson had two.
“We have to pull together as a team and learn to work hard,” T.R. Miller Lady Tiger head coach Ron Jackson said. “It was the first ballgame and there were a lot of first ballgame jitters. We have a lot of young kids on the team that have never played before. We need a leader—someone that will step up and take on the pressure. Hopefully somebody will step forward.”
Jackson said he thought the second half was a ‘little bit’ better than the first half.
“We showed a little hustle,” Jackson said. “The score at halftime was 43-10 and in the second half they only scored 18 points. We did better in the second half and we are going to get better. We just have a bunch of kids that don’t understand what it takes to win. We don’t have that leader like we did last year that will step up and take some of the pressure off. We got a bunch of kids that have never really had to be in those leadership roles. Hopefully we can get in there and work hard and someone will rise to the top and be a leader. Sometimes you never know who it will be.”
The T.R. Miller Lady Tiger roster for the 2012-2013 season shows 10 players. Of the 10, six are freshmen, two sophomores, one junior and one senior.
The Lady Tigers will be back in action Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. and at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The Lady Tigers will play Bay High School on Tuesday and against host Choctaw High School on Thursday.
The Lady Tigers will be back in action after Thanksgiving on Tuesday, Nov. 27 on the road at Atmore. Game time is set for 4:30 p.m.
T.R. Miller will have their first home game on Monday, Dec. 3 against Hillcrest.
Game time is also at 4:30 p.m.