By By BRUCE HIXON Sports Editor
Joy McCorvey's 28 points alone would have been enough to beat W.S. Neal, but the T.R. Miller Lady Tigers got plenty more.
The Lady Tigers moved within a victory of successfully defending their Escambia County Tournament championship Friday when they drilled the Lady Eagles 71-25.
T.R. Miller (5-0 overall and 2-0 in the tournament) had the opportunity to close out the championship Saturday if it beat Escambia County.
A 30-0 run by T.R. Miller in the first half easily decided Friday's verdict. The Lady Tigers also had a 13-minute stretch in the first half where they held W.S. Neal without a field goal.
McCorvey was the main offensive cog behind that run, as she fired in 16 of her 22 first half points when T.R. Miller built a 32-2 lead.
At Escambia County
T.R. Miller 16 26 8 21 – 71
W.S. Neal 2 5 7 11 – 25
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) McCorvey 14-0-0-28; Sanford 8-0-1-17; Lane 6-0-3-15; Smith 2-1-0-7; Peterson 1-0-0-2; Watson 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 32-1-4-71)
W.S. NEAL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Matthews 1-1-0-5; Adams 1-0-2-4; Marshall 2-0-0-4; Williams 0-1-0-3; Bradley 1-0-0-2; Andrews 1-0-0-2; Pettis 1-0-0-2; Floyd 1-0-0-2; Smith 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 8-2-3-25)
T.R. Miller 51, Flomaton 32
The Lady Tigers began defense of their Escambia
See LADY TIGERS Page 8 County Tournament championship of a year ago on the right foot Thursday when they downed the Flomaton Lady Hurricanes 51-32.
"It's always good to win the first game of a tournament. In a tournament of this format, you're really behind the eight ball if you lose that first game," T.R. Miller coach Ron Jackson said.
The Lady Tigers nailed down their victory with defense, as they held Flomaton (4-5) without a field goal in both the first and third quarters.
"I think getting to play some really tough teams down at Fort Walton Beach really gave us a chance to improve our defense," Jackson said. "Our offense struggled some in this game, especially with our half-court offense. We didn't score many points that way. In a lot of ways, our defense was our offense."
T.R. Miller began the game with a 13-1 lead thanks to a pair of buckets and two free throws by Jasmine Sanford.
Flomaton, which missed its first seven shots and turned the ball over seven times in the first nine minutes, did not make its first field goal until Tiffany Cayson connected a minute into the second quarter.
Sanford had a three-point play, turned a steal into a layup and scored another bucket off an assist from Joy McCorvey in the second quarter, as T.R. Miller widened its lead to 29-13 by halftime.
The Lady Tigers completed a 19-0 run they began late in the second quarter with the first 14 points of the second half. Seven of those belonged to McCorvey, who led T.R. Miller with 17 points. Her last bucket of the frame with 15 seconds left gave the Lady Tigers a game high bulge of 44-13.
It looked as if Flomaton would go the entire quarter scoreless, but Cayson was fouled at the buzzer and hit two free throws. It was the first points for the Lady Hurricanes in nine minutes. Flomaton's field goal drought extended another minute into the fourth quarter.
At Escambia County
T.R. Miller 12 17 15 7 – 51
Flomaton 1 12 2 17 – 32
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) McCorvey 7-0-3-17; Sanford 6-0-3-15; Smith 3-0-3-9; Lane 2-1-1-8; Boykin 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 19-1-10-51)
FLOMATON (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Lisenby 2-2-4-14; Cayson 2-0-5-19; Lassiter 2-0-1-5; Williams 2-0-0-4 (Totals: 8-2-10-32)