By Staff
Both W.S. Neal and T.R. Miller will have some significant changes to its respective basketball schedules in the 2004-05 school year.
W.S. Neal has added a home and away series with Andalusia. The Bulldogs will travel to East Brewton January 13 and the Blue Eagles will return the favor with a trip to Andalusia January 27.
W.S. Neal has also added a home and away series with Straughn, which joins the Blue Eagles, T.R. Miller and Clarke County in the Class 3A Area 1 field for the next two seasons. W.S. Neal hosted Straughn in a boys only contest last season. Next season the Blue Eagles host Straughn January 14 and travel to Straughn January 25.
Four teams that were on last year's W.S. Neal schedule (Hillcrest, Escambia County, Flomaton and McKenzie) have disappeared. However, the Blue Eagles will still play Flomaton and Escambia County at the Escambia County Tournament at Atmore.
W.S. Neal has also pulled out of the T.R. Miller Holiday Boys Tournament. The Blue Eagles are scheduled to play in just one tournament at this time, the Escambia County Tournament, which runs Deceber 9-11.
The decision to pull out of the T.R. Miller Tournament will give the W.S. Neal boys and girls a 25-day layoff during the holidays. W.S. Neal's last game before the holidays is December 13 at home aganst J.U. Blacksher. It will not play again until January 7 when it travels to Clarke County.
At this time, W.S. Neal has 17 games scheduled, 14 regular season and three in the Escambia County Tournament. The season opener is slated for November 29 with a home date against Northview (Fla.).
"There is chance we may still try to pick up another team or two before next season starts," W.S. Neal athletic director Shane Smothers said.
W.S. Neal basketball 2004-05
Nov. 29 Northview Home
Nov. 30 Pleasant Home Away
Dec. 3 Clarke County Home
Dec. 9-11 Escambia County Tournament at Atmore (Boys and Girls)
Dec. 13 J.U. Blacksher Home
Jan. 7 Clarke County Away
Jan. 11 T.R. Miller Home
Jan. 13 Andalusia Home
Jan. 14 Straughn Home
Jan. 21 T.R. Miller Away
Jan. 25 Straughn Away
Jan. 27 Andalusia Away
Feb. 1 Pleasant Home Home
Feb. 3 J.U. Blacksher Away
Feb. 4 Northview Away
After several years of participation at the Greenville Tournament during Thanksgiving weekend, the T.R. Miller Lady Tigers will switch to the Fort Walton Beach (Fla.) Tournament next season. That tournament will start the day before Thanksgiving (November 24) and will end the day after. That tournament will kick off T.R. Miller's season.
"Greenville has been a good tournament for us, but Fort Walton Beach will give us a chance to see some different schools and we'll also see some good competition there," T.R. Miller girls coach Ron Jackson said.
The Lady Tigers, who made their debut at the Pensacola (Fla.) Catholic Tournament last season, will return to that event next season. That tournament will run December 27-29.
The T.R. Miller girls, along with their male counterparts, will also compete in the Escambia County Tournament in Atmore December 9-11.
In a scheduling quirk, Jay (Fla.) will play T.R. Miller in two boys games but the teams are currently not scheduled to play in girls.
"We're puzzled as to why Jay won't play us in girls. We've usually had pretty competitive games with them and they're close," Jackson said. "That leaves us short a couple of games."
Jackson is hoping Pensacola High School will make a trip to Brewton for one of those games. The Lady Tigers travelled to Pensacola last season and suffered one of their two regular season losses in that matchup.
"They owe us a home game, but so far we've had a tough time making contact with them," Jackson said.
The Tigers will kick off their season with a November 30 game at Escambia County.
A new opponent to the T.R. Miller schedule is Straughn, which has been added for Area 1 purposes. Straughn will be at Brewton January 18 and the Tigers will travel there January 28.
T.R. Miller has pulled out of the Red Level Tournament. It has also dropped its regular season contest against Red Level.
T.R. Miller will host its third annual Holiday Tournament December 27-29.
"Last season we were able to play in both the Red Level Tournament and our tournament during the Christmas break because the dates didn't overlap. This upcoming season we needed to move our tournament up a few days and that overlapped at Red Level. We also had to make room for a couple of games with Straughn since they are now an Area 1 opponent," Tigers coach Rob Atkinson said.
T.R. Miller basketball 2004-05
Nov. 24-26 Fort Walton Beach Tournament (Girls)
Nov. 30 Escambia County Away
Dec. 3 Andalusia Home
Dec. 9-11 Escambia County Tournament at Atmore (Boys and Girls)
Dec. 13 Jay Home (Boys)
Dec. 17 Monroe County Away
Dec. 18 Northview Away
Dec. 27-29 Pensacola Catholic Tournament (Girls)
Dec. 27-29 T.R. Miller Tournament (Boys)
Jan. 4 Clarke County Home
Jan. 7 Flomaton Away
Jan. 11 W.S. Neal Away
Jan. 14 Clarke County Away
Jan. 18 Straughn Home
Jan. 21 W.S. Neal Home
Jan. 22 Jay Away (Boys)
Jan. 25 Escambia County Home
See BITS Page 7A
Jan. 28 Straughn Away
Jan. 29 Greenville Away
Feb. 1 Flomaton Home
Feb. 4 Monroe County Home
Feb. 5 Northview Home
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Pace (Fla.) has also left the T.R. Miller Holiday Tournament field along with W.S. Neal.
Those teams have been replaced with Andalusia and Monroe County. They join a field that already contains Mary Montgomery, Greenville, Flomaton, Northview, West Florida and the host Tigers.
"They are two good additions to our tournament. Andalusia was a little down last year by its standards, but year in and year out it has a solid team. Monroe County has a lot of good athletes and they had one of the better Class 2A teams around last season," Atkinson said.
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T.R. Miller High School graduate Deanna Jackson had some mixed results in her first two regular season games with the WNBA's Indiana Fever.
Jackson scored six points and grabbed four rebounds in the Fever's 69-67 victory over visiting New York Friday.
In Indiana's second game, Jackson stepped up with a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds in Indiana's 67-66 loss at home to Washington Sunday.
Jackson has had some shooting problems in those two games, as she has connected on a combined seven of 23 field goal attempts (31 percent). Jackson has been much more successful at the free throw line where she has hit six of seven attempts (86 percent).
Jackson and the Fever play again Friday at Charlotte.