By By Adam Robinson – Sports Editor
The two previous games between the T.R. Miller Lady Tigers and the Andalusia Lady Bulldogs were full of excitement and Saturday's class 4A Area 2 tournament championship game in Brewton would be no different as the Lady Tigers defeated the Bulldogs 44-34 to claim the area championship.
The Lady Tigers win completed a three-game season sweep of the Lady Bulldogs. The Lady Tigers (18-4) won regular season games by scores of 32-24 in Andalusia and 26-24 in Brewton. The win also counted as the Lady Tigers 13th win in a row.
The Lady Tigers will now take on Thomasville on Thursday at 6 p.m. in Brewton. Thomasville lost to Jackson in the area one tournament game. Jackson will now host Andalusia.
In the game Saturday, after a scoreless 2:21 to open the game, Andalusia was first to get on the board at the 5:39 mark and take a 2-0 lead. Nakiya Smith quickly scored for the Lady Tigers to tie the game at 2-2 with 4:57 left.
After being tied 4-4, Catherine Green gave the Lady Tigers a one-point lead at 5-4 with 2:54 left before Andalusia would go ahead 6-5 at the 2:10 mark.
From that point, the Lady Tigers went on a 9-0 run to claim a 14-6 lead with 47.6 seconds left in the quarter and hold the eight-point lead at the end of the quarter.
In the second quarter of play, Andalusia cut the lead to 14-8 at the 7:09 mark of the second quarter as Kesha Peterson would score a bucket and nail a 3-pointer for the Lady Tigers to give T.R. Miller a 19-8 lead with 4:50 left before the half.
A quick four-point turnaround for the Bulldogs cut the lead to 19-12 with 3:19 left.
Keydra Shedrone gave the Lady Tigers a 21-12 lead at the 2:08 mark and Smith would give the Tigers a 23-12 lead with 1:35 left before a late free throw for the Bulldogs cut the lead to 23-14 at the half.
In the third quarter, things began to get tight as Andalusia cut the lead to 23-18 with 5:16 left in the quarter.
Both teams alternated scoring until the 2:05 mark in the quarter when Smith gave the Lady Tigers a 28-23 lead.
That would be the final points in the quarter for the Tigers as Andalusia trimmed the lead to 28-24 and then 28-26 as they outscored the Lady Tigers 12-5 in the quarter and cut the lead to two points heading into the final quarter of play.
After Andalusia cut the lead to two points at the end of the third, a quick steal by Peterson produced two points for the Tigers and Green added a 3-pointer to give the Lady Tigers a 33-26 lead with 7:02 left in the game.
At the 4:06 mark in the game, the Tigers held a 38-0 lead as Andalusia cut the lead to 38-33 with 2:25 left to go.
From there, the Tigers went on a 5-0 run to hold a 10-point lead at 43-33 with 55.3 second left to go as the Lady Tigers went on to win 44-34.
The Lady Tigers will not face Thomasville Thursday night at 6 p.m. in the sub-region round of the playoffs.
The winner will advance to the South regionals to be held at Troy University.