By By BRUCE HIXON – Sports Editor
They have been T.R. Miller's one-two punch the last couple of seasons, but when Joy McCorvey fouled out in the third quarter the load fell strictly on the shoulders Lady Tiger teammate Jasmine Sanford.
Sanford did not let her team down, as she fired in 31 points to lead the Lady Tigers to a 53-48 win over Northgate (Ga.) in Thursday's opening round of the Oxford Tournament.
Sanford, who scored her 1,000th career point during the game, was especially tough down the stretch. With the score deadlocked at 36-36 through three quarters and with McCorvey on the bench with five fouls, Sanford stepped up and scored 15 of the Lady Tigers 17 points in the fourth quarter to lead T.R. Miller (10-1) to its ninth straight win.
Northgate was a surprise opponent for T.R. Miller, which had expected to face Etowah in the opening round.
Sanford's 31 points and 13 more from McCorvey accounted for 44 of T.R. Miller's 53 points.
The Lady Tigers, who closed out their portion of the Oxford Tournament Friday, begin competition at the Spring Hill College Tournament at Mobile Tuesday where they face UMS-Wright at 11 a.m.
At Oxford
Northgate 10 12 14 12 – 48
T.R. Miller 10 15 11 17 – 53
NORTHGATE (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Winn 5-1-2-15; Milton 5-0-4-14; Barfield 4-0-1-9; Hoth 4-0-0-8; Manotti 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 19-1-7-48)
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Sanford 10-0-11-31; McCorvey 5-0-3-13; Smith 1-0-2-4; Peterson 0-1-0-3; Grice 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 17-1-16-53)