By By BRUCE HIXON Sports Editor
Earlier this season Ashley Samuel knocked Deanna Jackson out of the T.R. Miller Lady Tigers record book when she broke her school record for points in a game.
Samuel took another hit at the Jackson family Tuesday when she passed Deanna's sister, Felicia Jackson, and moved into second place on the school's career scoring list.
Ironically Samuel accomplished both achievements on the W.S. Neal floor. The 5-9 senior pumped in 31 points, as T.R. Miller rolled to an 85-16 victory. It was the Lady Tigers' third win in as many tries over the Lady Blue Eagles.
Samuel entered the game 12 points shy of Felecia Jackson's career figure of 1,911. She eclipsed that barrier when she buried a three-pointer with 1:12 left in the first quarter. Those points were Samuel's 11th, 12th and 13th of the quarter.
"Getting to second place is a real nice accomplishment for Ashley. We'll just keep moving on and see how far she can go. She has a great chance to reach 2,000, which very few players do," T.R. Miller coach Ron Jackson said.
Samuel's performance marked the eighth time this season she has outscored the opposing team.
Samuel was not the only T.R. Miller girl to climb up the school's career scoring chart Tuesday. Sophomore Joy McCorvey knocked in 18 points and passed Adriane Johnson for the seventh spot with 851 points. Johnson had 848 points. McCorvey's next target will be Taylor DeFrancisco, who had 885 points.
As for the game itself, the Lady Tigers (17-2) steamrolled their way to a 31-0 lead in the first quarter thanks to 13 points from Samuel, eight by McCorvey and seven by Keonshaye Lane.
The other story to that incredible run was the T.R. Miller defense, which forced W.S. Neal (2-10) into 15 turnovers (on its way to 39 for the game) in the opening frame. In fact, the Lady Blue Eagles were able to attempt only three shots from the field. A bucket by Lakesha Marshall wih 18 seconds left in the quarter snapped T.R. Miller's 31-0 run.
The Lady Tigers ran their lead to 46-3 by half-time and that advantage stood at 62-5 with two minutes left in the third quarter.
Only two players scored for W.S. Neal. After the first quarter bucket by Marshall, Tierra Andrews scored the final 14 points for the Lady Blue Eagles
At W.S. Neal
T.R. Miller 34 12 18 21 – 85
W.S. Neal 2 1 5 8 – 16
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Samuel 9-3-4-31; McCorvey 9-0-0-18; Lane 4-1-0-11; Smith 4-0-0-8; Nettles 2-0-3-7; Sanford 3-0-0-6; Herrington 1-0-0-2; Clifton 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 33-4-7-85)
W.S. NEAL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Andrews 1-3-3-14; L. Marshall 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 2-3-3-16)
Friday's game
For the first time all season T.R. Miller put all five starters in double figures Friday, as it ripped the host Northview (Fla.) Lady Chiefs 72-9.
Ashley Samuel led that balanced attack with 19 points and moved to within 51 of 2,000 for
See LADY TIGERS Page 7
her career. Jasmine Sanford collected 14, Joy McCorvey had 12, Keonshaye Lane netted 11 and Krystle Smith came through with 10.
"We did a nice job of getting a lot of people involved," T.R. Miller coach Ron Jackson said.
The Lady Tigers (18-2) flew out to a 14-0 lead and had as much as a 43-3 lead in the first half against a winless Lady Chiefs squad.
As bad as the final score was, it could have been worse. A running clock was used from the start of the second quarter until the end of the game and both the third and fourth quarters were reduced to six minutes.
T.R. Miller, which hosted Jay (Fla.) Saturday, will travel to Escambia County Tuesday.
At Northview
T.R. Miller 29 16 15 12 – 72
Northview 3 2 2 2 – 9
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Samuel 7-1-2-19; Sanford 7-0-0-14; McCorvey 6-0-0-12; Lane 4-1-0-11; Smith 5-0-0-10; Clifton 1-0-0-2; Nettles 1-0-0-2; Fountain 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 32-2-2-72)
NORTHVIEW (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) White 4-0-1-9 (Totals: 4-0-1-9)