By By BRUCE HIXON – Sports Editor
Some day the T.R. Miller Lady Tigers may let somebody else see what the Escambia County Tournament championship trophy looks like, but that day is not now.
T.R. Miller claimed its fifth straight EC crown since the tournament was reinstated in 2001 Saturday when it downed the Escambia County Lady Blue Devils 53-30 at Flomaton.
Flomaton picked up its first win of the tournament and claimed the third place contest with a 41-18 triumph over W.S. Neal.
T.R. Miller 53,
Escambia County 30
Even though the season was less than three weeks old, Saturday's matchup was already the third between the teams. T.R. Miller also won the two previous meetings, 49-39 in Brewton and 58-25 at the Emerald Coast Classic at Fort Walton Beach (Fla.).
The Lady Tigers (8-1) took control of the game in the first half with their defense, as they held Escambia County without a field goal and to just two free throws during an eight-minute stretch.
During that time frame T.R. Miller erased what was a 3-0 deficit and turned it into a 15-5 lead on the strength of a pair of buckets by Donya Grice and Jasmine Sanford.
The Lady Tigers widened that lead to 26-13 when Sanford scored at the halftime buzzer and the lead never dropped below double digits in the second half.
Despite the fact she was saddled with four fouls most of the quarter, Joy McCorvey stepped up in the third period with four buckets and a free throw to help T.R. Miller stretch its lead to 43-27.
The lead reached 20 points, 50-30, halfway through the quarter and reached as many as 23. Sanford, who was also saddled with four fouls, played a key role in the late surge at the free throw line where she hit of eight of 10 attempts in the last quarter on her way to a game high 22 points.
done a good job for us. Even though they didn't score, Samantha Brown and Shae Walker came off the bench and gave us some good minutes as well,” Jackson said.
At Flomaton
T.R. Miller 13 13 17 10- 53
Escambia Co. 4 9 14 3 – 30
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Sanford 6-0-10-22; McCorvey 6-0-3-15; Smith 3-0-1-7; Grice 3-0-0-6; Peterson 0-1-0-3 (Totals: 18-1-14-53)
ESCAMBIA COUNTY (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Sanders 4-0-1-9; Jones 3-0-2-8; B. Lee 3-0-0-6; English 1-0-1-3; C. Lee 1-0-0-2; Banks 0-0-2-2 (Totals: 12-0-6-30)
Flomaton 41, W.S. Neal 18
Flomaton, which entered the tournament unbeaten rebounded from back-to-back losses to T.R. Miller and Escambia County, rebounded with a stingy defensive performance against the Lady Blue Eagles.
W.S. Neal hit just six of 49 field goal attempts (12 percent). The Lady Blue Eagles especially went stone cold in the second half where they hit just one of 26 shots including misses on their last 14 attempts.
Despite the shooting problems, W.S. Neal (1-6) was able to stay within striking distance in the first half. The Lady Blue Eagles trailed just 7-6 after a pair of free throws by Shekinah Adams with three minutes left in the first quarter and only 22-14 at halftime when Jessica Smith scored just before the second quarter buzzer.
Led by Jodi Lisenby's three-pointer and buckets by Lillian Williams and Ashley Conrad, the Lady Hurricanes (8-2) began the second half with an 11-2 surge that extended their advantage to a commanding position of 33-16.
W.S. Neal did not score the last 8:14 of the game.
At Flomaton
Flomaton 14 8 11 8 – 41
W.S. Neal 6 8 4 0 – 18
FLOMATON (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Lisenby 3-1-5-14; Harden 3-0-4-10; T. Cayson 0-2-3-9; Conrad 2-0-0-4; Williams 1-0-2-4 (Totals: 9-3-14-41)
W.S. NEAL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Matthews 3-0-2-8; Adams 1-0-4-6; Bailey 1-0-0-2; Smith 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 6-0-6-18)