By BY BRUCE HIXON
sports editor
Many may have looked at this season as a chance to get some payback against the T.R. Miller Lady Tigers for past failures.
It turns out it will go down as another winning season in Coach Ron Jackson's regime after T.R. Miller downed the visiting Flomaton Lady Hurricanes 42-26 Monday.
T.R. Miller (11-8) rode a stingy first half defensive performance in its regular season finale to post its third win of the season over the Lady Hurricanes (8-15). The Lady Tigers held Flomaton without a field goal well into the second quarter and opened up a double-digit lead in the process.
T.R. Miller built an 11-4 lead in the opening quarter behind Kesha Peterson's three-pointer and traditional field goal, a bucket and free throw by Catherine Green and a hoop by Nakiya Smith.
Flomaton, which was limited to three free throws by Carol Harden and another charity toss by April Cayson in the opening quarter, finally broke into the field goal category in the second quarter when Harden drained a three-pointer and Kaitlyn Hamrick connected from inside the arc.
A pair of three-pointers by Green and two more buckets by Ashley Williams helped T.R. Miller outscore Flomaton 12-6 in the quarter and open up a 23-10 lead by halftime.
The Lady Tigers widened their lead up to 33-18 in the third quarter when Smith hit a pair of buckets and a free throw, while Peterson and Green also connected from the field.
Green's third three-pointer of the game two minutes into the fourth quarter enabled T.R. Miller to take its largest leadoff the game at 36-20. The Lady Tigers matched that margin of lead on three other occasions in the fourth quarter, which included the final score.
T.R. Miller opens up play at the Class 4A Area 2 Tournament at Andalusia Thursday where it will take on third-seeded Hillcrest-Evergreen at 5:30 p.m. The second-seeded Lady Tigers won both regular season meetings against Hillcrest with a 40-27 win at Brewton and a 51-42 decision at Evergreen.
Thursday's winner will take on the winner from Thursday's other first-round game between top-seeded Andalusia and fourth-seeded W.S. Neal Saturday at 7 p.m. for the championship.
At T.R. Miller
Flomaton 4 6 8 8 - 26
T.R. Miller 11 12 10 9 - 42
FLOMATON (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Harden 3-1-6-15; Hambrick 3-0-0-6; Wright 1-0-2-4; Cayson 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 7-1-9-26)
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Green 2-3-1-14; Smith 3-0-3-9; Peterson 3-1-0-9; Gibbs 2-0-0-4; Williams 2-0-0-4; Grice 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 12-4-6-42)