By By Adam Robinson – sports editor
If basketball were a game of three quarters only counting the first, second and fourth quarters of play, the T.R. Miller Lady Tigers would have lost Tuesday night's game to the Escambia County Lady Blue Devils 36-30.
But thankfully for the Lady Tigers and head coach Ron Jackson it is a four quarter game as his Lady Tigers used a 9-0 run to end the first half and held a scoring advantage in the second quarter of 20-9 en route to a 50-45 win over the Lady Blue Devils to keep their winning streak in tact at eight games and move to 13-4 on the season.
Three Lady Tigers scored in double digits in the win as Kesha Peterson led the Tigers with 14 points and Nakiya Smith and Catherine Green had 12 and 10 points respectively.
In the game Tuesday night, after falling behind 3-0 with 7:18 left in the first quarter, the Lady Tigers got on the board at the 6:28 mark when Peterson connected for one of two free throws to get the Tigers within two points of the lead.
At the 4:42 mark, Smith tied the game at 3-3 as she connected on a jumper for the Tigers. From there, Escambia County jumped out to a 7-3 lead and held a 9-5 lead at the end of the quarter.
The second quarter was the only quarter that the Lady Tigers won and did they win it.
After trailing 9-5, the Lady Tigers went on a 5-0 run to take a 10-9 lead with 7:15 left in the half after Green's 3-pointer. After being on the wrong end of the 5-0 run, Escambia County took a 4-0 run to regain the lead at 13-10 and held a 17-12 lead with 3:39 left.
The Lady Tigers then scored two baskets in 10 seconds to cut the lead to 17-16 as Escambia County held an 18-16 lead with 2:54 left.
That would be all the points the Lady Devils scored in the remainder of the quarter as the Lady Tigers went on a 9-0 run to end the half with a 25-18 lead.
During the run, four Lady Tigers scored during the 2:12 run.
The Lady Tigers continued their run in the first 45 seconds of the third quarter as they got two quick points from Smith to make the run 11-0.
Escambia County ended the run on their next offensive series as they cut the lead to 27-20 with 6:35 left in the third quarter.
The remainder of the third quarter alternated back and forth with the Lady Devils holding a 13-12 advantage in the quarter, but the Lady Tigers held a 37-31 lead at the end of the third.
In the fourth quarter of play, after T.R. Miller took a 39-31 lead, Escambia County came back on a 5-0 run to cut the Lady Tiger lead to three points at 39-36. After the Lady Tigers held a 41-38 lead with 4:44, Smith started a 6-0 run for the Tigers as they held a 47-38 lead with 3:20 left.
From that point, the Lady Tigers were outscored 7-3, but was able to hold on for the five-point win 50-45.
T.R. Miller 26, Andalusia 24
If someone were to show up at halftime of the T.R. Miller Lady Tiger and Andalusia ball game Friday night in Brewton, one may have thought they were at a baseball game or figured the scoreboard was wrong.
At the end of the first quarter it was 5-4 T.R. Miller and at the half it was 11-7 Andalusia.
While the third quarter was also low scoring, the combined points in the quarter were only five points lower than the halftime scores combined.
While the Lady Tigers ended up winning the game, no one could have predicted the finish that was seen as T.R. Miller put on a comeback and won 26-24 to improve to 14-4 on the season and 6-0 in area play and will host the area tournament beginning February 7.
After trailing 17-14 at the end of the third quarter, the Lady Tigers trailed 24-18 with 4:50 left in the game.
That would be the last points for the visiting Bulldogs in the game as they went on an 8-0 run to take the lead 26-24 with 1:36 left in the game.
After neither team would score, the Lady Tigers were fouled to be forced into a one-and-one situation at the free throw line.
Ashley Williams missed the free throw with 1.4 seconds left as Andalusia forgot it was a one-and-one situation and watched the ball rim out as the clock ticked off the final seconds for the Lady Tiger win.
Nakiya Smith led the Lady Tigers with 13 points.