By BY BRUCE HIXON – SPORTS EDITOR
They did not have anybody score in double digits. They did not have a big run to carry them.
Neither of those things kept the T.R. Miller Lady Tigers from grinding out a 38-24 win over the visiting W.S. Neal Lady Blue Eagles Friday.
The win was T.R. Miller's third of the season over W.S. Neal and it also kept the Lady Tigers' hopes alive of catching Andalusia in the Class 4A Area 2 race. T.R. Miller (9-6 and 4-1 in Area play) will get a chance to force a tie for the top spot this Friday when it plays at Andalusia. Andalusia also has a game with Hillcrest Tuesday prior to the showdown with the Lady Tigers.
Meanwhile the loss extended W.S. Neal's slide to six games. The Lady Blue Eagles (5-14 overall and 0-5 in Area play) have scored less than 30 points in five of those six losses.
T.R. Miller forced W.S. Neal into 22 turnovers in the game. The Lady Tigers needed that kind of stingy defense to help offset an offense that sputtered most of the first half.
A field goal and two free throws by Nakiya Smith and a bucket each by Catherine Green and Keydra Shedrone got T.R. Miller off to an 8-2 lead in the first four minutes of the game.
The Lady Tigers left the door open for W.S. Neal to make a move when it hit just one field goal over the next 10 minutes. The one item that helped save T.R. Miller during the stretch was the free throw line where it hit five of six attempts. In fact, the Lady Tigers hit nine of 10 charity tosses in the first half.
W.S. Neal still had the deficit at just six points when a field goal by Katie Elliott made it 14-8 with four minutes left in the half. The lid closed over the basket for the Lady Blue Eagles, as they went the rest of the half without a field goal and had just three free throws total overall.
It turned out to be a key stretch in the game. T.R. Miller got a free throw by Isha Thompson, a three-pointer by Morgan Hubbard, two free throws by Donya Grice and a steal and layup by Green that opened up a 22-8 lead late in the first half.
The Lady Tigers never led that lead drop into single digits the rest of the way although a bucket by Elliott early in the second half brought W.S. Neal within 24-13.
By the time the quarter was over T.R. Miller had upped the lead to 31-15. It hit 36-15 when the Lady Tigers got a bucket by Shedrone off a steal by Smith and a three-point play by Green at the start of the fourth quarter.
At T.R. Miller
W.S. Neal 6 5 4 9 - 24
T.R. Miller 10 14 7 7 - 38
W.S. NEAL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Matthews 2-0-6-10; Elliott 3-0-1-7; Davis 2-0-3-7 (Totals: 7-0-10-24)
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Green 3-0-2-8; Smith 3-0-2-8; Shedrone 3-0-1-7; Thompson 1-0-4-6; Grice 1-0-2-4; Hubbard 0-1-0-3; Williams 0-0-2-2 (Totals: 11-1-13-38)
Lady Tigers lose Area lead
T.R. Miller fell out of the top spot in the Area 2 race Tuesday when it dropped a 39-33 home-court decision to the Andalusia Lady Bulldogs.
T.R. Miller entered the game with a half-game lead over Andalusia for the Area lead in a battle of the last two unbeatens.
Andalusia (7-8 overall and 3-0 in Area play) scored the game's first eight points, but the Lady Tigers battled back and cut the gap to just 13-12 by halftime despite the fact they hit just four of their 16 first half field goal attempts (25 percent).
T.R. Miller took its lone lead in the game a minute into the second half when Ashley Williams' steal and layup put the Lady Tigers up 14-13. Andalusia had a 22-21 lead later in the third quarter when T.R. Miller began a fatal six-minute stretch where it hit just one field goal and scored just four points. That drought enabled Andalusia to go on what turned out to be a decisive 10-2 run that opened up a 32-23 lead with 5:37 left.
Just when it looked as if the Lady Tigers were down for the count, they responded with a three-pointer by Kesha Peterson, a fastbreak bucket by Catherine Green and a bucket by Kedra Shedrone off a steal by Williams that narrowed the gap to just 32-30 with three and a half minutes left.
The teams traded points over the next two and a half minutes. Andalusia got a field goal and free throw by Anjelica White, while T.R. Miller got a charity toss by Peterson and a bucket by Williams that left Andalusia's lead at 35-33 with 40 seconds left.
At T.R. Miller
Andalusia 9 4 14 12 - 39
T.R. Miller 3 9 11 10 - 33
ANDALUSIA (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Alverson 4-0-7-15; Carlson 3-0-3-9; White 4-0-1-9; Kelly 1-0-1-3; Lawrence 1-0-1-3 (Totals: 13-0-13-39)
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Peterson 2-1-3-10; Smith 3-0-3-9; Williams 2-0-0-4; Boley 2-0-0-4; Green 1-0-0-2; McCorvey 1-0-0-2; Shedrone 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 11-1-8-33)