By BY BRUCE HIXON – SPORTS EDITOR
How tough a night was it for the W.S. Neal Lady Blue Eagles?
Take away Escambia County's 31-0 run and the Lady Blue Devils still had enough cushion left over to win Monday's 68-33 decision at East Brewton.
Escambia County (6-3) dominated play through the first three quarters where it built a whopping 60-16 lead. W.S. Neal coach Steve Lambert turned down a chance for a running clock in the second half.
Other positives were much harder to find for the Lady Blue Eagles, who slipped to 1-3 on the young season.
Escambia County used its size advantage inside and its pressing defense to steamroll its way to a 23-8 lead through one quarter and a 49-14 halftime advantage.
Early on it was Courtney English and Ashley Kidd who fueled the Lady Blue Devils' attack. The duo combined for 19 of Escambia County's 23 first quarter points, as English had five field goals and Kidd had four buckets and a charity toss.
It was Jasmine Sanders who did most of damage in the second quarter, as she had 12 of her 14 first half points in that frame.
Escambia County had a 27-14 lead early in the second quarter when the Lady Blue Devils began their 31-0 run. It concluded with a field goal by T.J. Jennings four minutes into the third quarter that swelled the gap to 58-14.
W.S. Neal heads to Northview, Fla. Monday.
At W.S. Neal
Escambia Co. 23 26 11 8 - 68
W.S. Neal 8 6 2 17 - 33
ESCAMBIA COUNTY (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Kidd 7-0-1-15; Sanders 7-0-0-14; English 6-0-1-13; Jones 5-0-0-10; Jennings 1-1-3-8; Lee 2-0-0-4; Craft 1-0-0-2; Banks 1-0-0-2; Culliver 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 30-1-5-68)
W.S. NEAL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Andrews 2-1-8-15; Matthews 4-0-0-8; Folmar 1-1-0-5; Davis 1-0-0-2; Elliott 1-0-0-2; Alexander 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 9-2-9-33)