By BY BRUCE HIXON – SPORTS EDITOR
Not many teams can claim they have never lost a game at their home facility. Thanks to the UMS-Wright Lady Bulldogs, the T.R. Miller Lady Tigers no longer can either.
Morgan Ladner's two free throws with 1.7 seconds left snapped a tie and proved to be the difference in the Lady Bulldogs' 37-35 victory Tuesday.
T.R. Miller had compiled a 51-0 record in its home gym that opened up for business back in the 2002-03 season. The Lady Tigers had won 56 straight games on campus, a streak that began back in the 2000-01 season. The last team to beat T.R. Miller at home was none other than UMS-Wright, which left Brewton with a 55-44 victory back on Jan. 20, 2001.
The Lady Tigers got themselves in position to extend the streak against a UMS-Wright team that improved its record to 8-1. T.R. Miller took a 34-31 lead on a bucket by Nakiya Smith with 3:44 left and went to its stall game after a defensive stop.
Three straight possessions in the stall mode ended in turnovers. The Lady Bulldogs came up empty after the first giveaway, but a bucket by Kristen Hayes with 1:53 left cut the gap to 34-33 and Leigh Gilmore's steal and layup with 1:40 left put UMS-Wright up 35-34.
Catherine Green had a chance to put T.R. Miller back in front when she was fouled with 21 seconds left. Green hit the first attempt to tie the game at 35-35, but missed the second and the Lady Bulldogs got the rebound.
Hayes missed a three-point shot with less than 10 seconds left, but T.R. Miller knocked the ball out of bounds. That gave the Lady Bulldogs a chance to inbound the ball under their own basket where Ladner was fouled on a shot attempt.
The loss spoiled a great individual performance from Smith, a freshman, who scored a career-high 20 points. Smith got 14 of those points in the second half. T.R Miller only scored three other points that did not come from Smith in the second half.
At T.R. Miller
UMS-Wright 11 11 6 9 - 37
T.R. Miller 10 8 12 5 - 35
UMS-WRIGHT (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Ladner 1-0-6-8; Stewart 4-0-0-8; Hayes 3-0-0-6; L. Gilmore 1-1-0-5; S. Gilmore 2-0-0-4; Pavlov 1-0-1-3; Plash 1-0-1-3 (Totals: 13-1-8-37)
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Smith 10-0-0-20; Grice 1-0-1-3; Hubbard 0-1-0-3; Williams 1-0-0-2; Thompson 1-0-0-2; Brown 1-0-0-2; Peterson 1-0-0-2; Green 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 15-1-2-35)
Lady Tigers sweep Northview
T.R. Miller got its second win in a week over Northview Friday, as it crushed the visiting Lady Chiefs 53-15. The Lady Tigers won at Northview 52-25 in their season opener the previous week.
Both games followed similar patterns. T.R. Miller (2-1) did not allow a first half field goal and built a 22-2 halftime lead in the initial encounter. The rematch saw the Lady Tigers allow just one first half field goal and three total points, as they steamrolled their way to a 31-point halftime lead.
Northview's Kiauna Grice made the only first half field goal for the Lady Chiefs with 39 seconds left in the first quarter. The Lady Tigers, who led 10-3 at that junction, responded with a 24-0 run over the next 9:10 and stretched their lead to 34-3.
Eleven Lady Tigers scored although none reached double digits. Catherine Green led the scoring list with nine points.
The annual Escambia County Tournament tips off at T.R. Miller Thursday. The Lady Tigers open up their portion of the tournament with a 6 p.m. contest against Flomaton. T.R. Miller will also have games against W.S. Neal Friday and Escambia County Saturday. Both of those games are also at 6 p.m.
At T.R. Miller
Northview 3 0 7 5 - 15
T.R. Miller 12 22 8 11 - 53
NORTHVIEW (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Grice 2-0-0-4; Wesley 1-0-1-3; Marshall 1-0-1-3; Thompson 1-0-0-2; White 1-0-0-2; Lee 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 6-0-3-15)
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Green 2-1-2-9; Williams 4-0-0-8; Smith 4-0-0-8; McCorvey 3-0-1-7; Peterson 2-1-0-7; Grice 2-0-0-4; Hubbard 0-1-0-3; Shedrone 1-0-0-2; Gibbs 1-0-0-2; Thompson 1-0-0-2; Brown 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 20-3-4-53)