By By BRUCE HIXON Sports Editor
With Straughn also unbeaten in Class 3A Area 1 play, the T.R. Miller Lady Tigers are anything but home free in that race.
However, T.R. Miller all but eliminated one of its top rivals from the Area regular season crown when it bounced the host Clarke County Lady Bulldogs 54-37 Friday.
Clarke County (11-4 overall and 2-2 in Area 1) played the Lady Tigers (17-1 overall and 3-0 in Area 1) on near even terms in three quarters. The lone exception was the second quarter where T.R. Miller took control of the contest with an 11-0 blitz.
Two key statistics jump out from the game. Clarke County had five offensive rebounds in the first quarter, but failed to get another until there was just over a minute left in the game. The Lady Bulldogs also missed all nine of their free throw attempts.
After Clarke County's Tiffany Johnson scored from inside the lane with 15 seconds left in the first quarter to tie the game at 11-11, T.R. Miller held the Lady Bulldogs scoreless for nearly nine minutes and strung together a 13-0 run.
Joy McCorvey, who led the Lady Tigers with 23 points, scored just before the first quarter horn to put T.R. Miller ahead for good.
McCorvey added a couple of buckets in the second quarter blitz to go along with a key three-pointer by Rebecca Scott. Krystle Smith also had a key play in the second quarter run with a bucket off a steal. A field goal by Jasmine Sanford off a McCorvey steal in the final minute of the first half extended T.R. Miller's lead to 24-11 at the midway point.
While they were in the driver's seat, the Lady Tigers were unable to deliver the final knockout blow until late in the fourth quarter.
Clarke County got as close as 29-20 after a bucket by Courtney Thomas midway through the third quarter, but a hoop by Sanford and a three-point play by McCorvey got the lead back into double digits where it stayed for the remainder of the game.
At Clarke County
T.R. Miller 13 11 10 20 – 54
Clarke County 11 0 12 14 – 37
See LADY TIGERS Page 7
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) McCorvey 9-0-5-23; Sanford 5-0-3-13; Smith 3-0-1-7; Lane 2-0-1-5; Peterson 1-0-1-3; Scott 0-1-0-3 (Totals: 20-1-11-54)
CLARKE COUNTY (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) T. Johnson 7-0-0-14; Curtis 0-3-0-9; Dickinson 3-0-0-6; Moore 0-1-0-3; Snell 0-1-0-3; Harris 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 11-5-0-37)
Tuesday's game
The Lady Tigers pitched shutout ball for nearly 13 minutes at the start of Tuesday's game at W.S. Neal en route to a 51-14 Area 1 victory.
During that time frame T.R. Miller rolled out to a 24-0 lead, as it notched its second victory of the season over its arch rival.
The Lady Tigers compiled 21 points of that lead in the opening quarter thanks largely to Jasmine Sanford and Joy McCorvey, who had 16 points during that run.
Sanford had a pair of fastbreak layups, nailed two perimeter shots, added a free throw and came up with a pair of steals. Meanwhile McCorvey scored once off her own steal, another off Keonshaye Lane's steal a third hoop off a steal by Sanford to go along with a free throw.
W.S. Neal did not crack the scoreboard until the 3:13 mark of the second quarter when Carolyn Marshall connected.
After its initial surge, the Lady Tigers' offense hit some snags. They scored just four points the remainder of the first half.
The Lady Blue Eagles took advantage of the dry spell and used a bucket by Jessica Smith and a three-pointer at the halftime buzzer by Marshall that trimmed T.R. Miller's lead to 28-7.
Tierra Andrews helped W.S. Neal edge a little closer when her bucket early in the third quarter cut T.R. Miller's cushion to 28-9.
Another dry spell by the Lady Blue Eagles' offense, this one a scoreless nine-minute stretch prevented them from getting even closer.
T.R. Miller countered with a 13-0 surge that swelled the gap up to 42-9 when it ended early in the fourth quarter. Seven T.R. Miller players (McCorvey, Sanford, Keya Peterson, Krystle Smith, Brittany Watson, Shae Walker and Rebecca Scott) scored during that run.
At W.S. Neal
T.R. Miller 21 7 13 10 – 51
W.S. Neal 0 7 2 5 – 14
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) McCorvey 6-0-3-15; Sanford 4-0-3-11; Lane 3-0-0-6; Grice 1-1-0-5; Peterson 2-0-0-4; Watson 1-0-2-4; Scott 1-0-0-2; Walker 1-0-0-2; Smith 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 20-1-8-51)
W.S. NEAL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Marshall 1-1-0-5; Likely 0-1-0-3; Andrews 1-0-1-3; Smith 1-0-0-2; Floyd 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 3-2-2-14)