By By BRUCE HIXON Sports Editor
It is a milestone Ashley Samuel is proud to achieve, but glad to have behind her.
The T.R. Miller Lady Tigers senior eclipsed the 2,000 career points barrier Friday, as she powered her team to a 63-30 triumph over the visiting Greenville Lady Tigers.
Samuel went into the game seven points shy of the mark and early on it appeared she might have to wait for another day. In fact, Greenville shut out Samuel in the first quarter and pretty much denied her any good looks at the basket.
"They were using a box-and-one against her. After that first quarter we started running a special play to help get Ashley open," T.R. Miller coach Ron Jackon said.
That play got Samuel open all right. After the scoreless first quarter, Samuel erupted for 18 second quarter points to eclipse the 2,000 mark. It officially happened at the 3:31 mark with a three-point shot from the wing.
That trey was one of four Samuel hit in the second period and five she hit for the game.
"Two thousand points means a lot to me. I've had a lot of people talk about it in recent days," Samuel said. "I'm glad to get it behind me. Now I can move forward and work on other things."
As for the game itself, it was a night of sweet revenge for T.R. Miller. Greenville (13-10) had beaten T.R. Miller the last two seasons.
"This may not be one of their best teams, but they've still got a good team and it's a good win for us," Jackson said. "This was our 10th straight win so we'rebuilding some momentum for the postseason."
Even though Samuel was blanked in the first quarter, T.R. Miller (21-2) was still able to race out to a double digit lead, which it never relinquished.
Sophomore Joy McCorvey was a big part of that surge with three buckets and three free throws, as T.R. Miller built a 16-6 advantage.
Twelve of Samuel's 18 second quarter points came during a 17-2 run at the start of the second quarter that gave the host Lady Tigers a commanding 33-8 lead.
After it led 43-12 at half-time, T.R. Miller continued to widen its lead in the second half. The biggest cushion of the game came halfway through the fourth quarter when Samuel's fifth three-pointer made it 61-24.
T.R. Miller, which hosted Red Level Saturday, travels to Flomaton Tuesday.
At T.R. Miller
Greenville 6 6 12 6 – 30
T.R. Miller 16 27 8 12 – 63
GREENVILLE (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Robinson 5-0-1-11; Powell 1-2-1-9; Savage 2-0-0-4; Sturgeon 1-0-0-2; Crenshaw 1-0-0-2; Banner 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 11-2-2-30)
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Samuel 5-5-2-27; McCorvey 7-0-3-17; Lane 3-0-3-9; Sanford 2-0-2-6; smith 1-0-0-2; Scott 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 19-5-10-63)
Tuesday's game
It may not be their their biggest goal of the season, but the Lady Tigers accomplished a significant item when they picked up their 20th win of the campaign in Tuesday's 61-36 road win over the Escambia County Lady Blue Devils.
"We're hoping for bigger things, but 20 wins in a season is always nice to get," T.R. Miller coach Ron Jackson said.
T.R. Miller, which beat Escambia County for the third time this season, stormed out to a 23-2 lead in the first quarter and a 38-8 edge by half-time.
The initial surge included a 17-0 run in the opening frame. That run was fueled by four buckets from Ashley Samuel and two more from Jasmine Sanford.
Up 25-7 early in the second quarter, T.R. Miller had another double digit blitz, this one 11-0, that ran its cushion to 36-7. Ten of those points came courtesy of three Joy McCorvey hoops and two more buckets by Samuel.
McCorvey, who finished the night with a game high 23 points, hit two more field goals early in the third quarter that gave the Lady Tigers their biggest lead of the game at 42-8.
While T.R. Miller had more than enough cushion by that point, its ride to the end of the game hit some snags. The Lady Tigers missed 12 of their next 14 shots and had 12 turnovers in the second half. Escambia County outscored the Lady Tigers 28-19 the rest of the way.
"We had three starters in foul trouble in the second half and that is tough to deal with. I also think we got a little too comfortable since we had the big lead," Jackson said.
At Escambia County
T.R. Miller 23 15 10 13 – 61
Escambia Co. 5 3 12 16 – 36
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) McCorvey 11-0-1-23; Samuel 9-0-1-19; Smith 3-0-2-8; Sanford 4-0-0-8; Lane 1-0-0-2; Nettles 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 28-0-5-61)
ESCAMBIA COUNTY (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Sanders 4-0-1-9; Lett 3-0-2-8; C. Lee 3-0-1-7; Burt 0-0-5-5; Crenshaw 0-1-0-3; Parker 1-0-0-2; Taylor 0-0-2-2 (Totals: 11-1-11-36)