By By BRUCE HIXON – Sports Editor
With their names already on Division I scholarships, it should come as no surprise Joy McCorvey and Jasmine Sanford are giving the T.R. Miller Lady Tigers a one-two punch in the early going.
It was McCorvey and Sanford who helped T.R. Miller bounce back from a disappointing first-round loss to Niceville (Fla.) to win the consolation championship at the Emerald Coast Classic at Fort Walton Beach over the weekend.
McCorvey (29) and Sanford (16) accounted for 45 points in Friday's 58-25 thrashing of Escambia County in the consolation semifinals. They teamed up for 38 points, as McCorvey had 26 and Sanford added 12 in Saturday's 50-37 consolation championship victory over Crestview (Fla.).
On the flip side, T.R. Miller only got 13 points from the
rest of its lineup against Escambia County and only two other players scored and accounted for 12 points against Crestview.
The Lady Tigers (3-1) will also be a much better team when they shake off their early season struggles from the free throw line. They were just five-for-19 in the loss to Niceville, five-for-eight against Escambia County and16-for-40 against Crestview. In fact, through four games the Lady Tigers have hit just 34 of 83 foul shots (41 percent).
The win against Escambia County was the second in four days. The Lady Tigers beat the Lady Blue Devils 49-39 at Brewton back on November 21.
The second time around was no contest although T.R. Miller had just an 11-8 lead through one quarter.
Over the next two frames the Lady Tigers outscored their county rival 40-9 with a 21-3 edge in the second quarter and a 19-6 advantage in the third period. McCorvey had 25 of her 29 points in those two middle quarters with 13 in the second and 12 more in the third.
Even though they led throughout, the Lady Tigers had a tough tussle with Crestview until late in the game.
T.R. Miller led 12-6 after one period and extended the advantage to 24-17 by halftime, but Crestview narrowed that lead to 31-27 in the third quarter.
Down the stretch the Lady Tigers got nine points from McCorvey and five from Sanford in the fourth quarter to seal the win.
The Lady Tigers, who hosted Northview (Fla.) Tuesday,
head out on the road to Andalusia Friday for a 5:30 p.m. game.
Friday's game
Escambia Co. 8 3 6 8 – 25
T.R. Miller 11 21 19 7 – 58
ESCAMBIA COUNTY (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) C. Lee 4-0-2-10; Sanders 4-0-0-8; English 2-0-0-4; Banks 1-0-1-3 (Totals: 11-0-3-25)
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) McCorvey 13-0-3-29; Sanford 8-0-0-16; Smith 1-0-2-4; Peterson 0-1-0-3; Watson 1-0-0-2; Williams 1-0-0-2; Scott 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 25-1-58)
Saturday's game
T.R. Miller 12 12 7 19 – 50
Crestview 6 11 10 10 – 37
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) McCorvey 9-0-8-26; Sanford 4-0-4-12; Smith 2-0-4-8; Grice 2-0-0-4 (Totals: 17-0-16-50)
CRESTVIEW (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Gregory 2-0-4-8; Bradshaw 1-0-6-8; Akins 2-0-2-6; Blacksher 1-0-2-4; Gainer 1-0-1-3; Archie 0-0-3-3; Collins 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 8-1-18-37)