By By Adam Robinson
sports editor
The T.R. Miller girls are headed back to Birmingham for the sixth time in the last decade — and hope to have a shot at the state title.
The No. 8 Lady Tigers face No. 2 Glencoe at 7 p.m. today at Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center.
T.R. Miller beat Slocomb 44-22 Saturday for the class 3A South Regional title. Glencoe beat Altamont 44-33 Saturday at the Northeast Regional tournament.
Head coach Ron Jackson said he is looking forward to a chance to play for the state championshp.
He’s focusing his players on the fundamentals.
With Saturday’s win, the Lady Tigers picked up their 17th straight win and improved to 24-2 overall this season.
The region championship was the second straight for the Lady Tigers and eighth in 13 years, with six coming in the last 10 years.
Nakiya Smith led the Tigers with 11 points, and Zykeya Barton added nine. Barton was the tournament MVP and made the all-tournament team along with Ashley Williams.
The Lady Tigers struggled in the first half shooting on 22 percent from the field. In the second half, the Lady Tigers turned things around with a 57 percent shooting job. Slocomb shot 27 percent in the first half and 29 percent in the second half for 28 percent in the game.
T.R. Miller led 8-6 after the first quarter and outscored Slocomb 13-6 in the second quarter to lead by nine points at the half at 21-12.
In the second half, the Lady Tigers started the third quarter strong and outscored Slocomb 10-4 in the quarter to claim a 15-point lead heading into the fourth quarter at 31-16.
In the fourth quarter, the Lady Tigers outscored the Lady Red Tops 13-6 to claim the 22-point win.
The Lady Tigers out rebounded Slocomb 35-21 in the game to help key the win.
Jackson said he thought the game began to turn in his team’s favor after the Lady Tigers forced some key turnovers.
Catherine Green added eight points in the win for the Lady Tigers and Keydra Shedrone chipped in seven.
Kesha Peterson, Leah Brundidge and Janel McCorvey all had three points in the win.
Smith and McCorvey both had seven rebounds each in the win and Peterson, Brundidge and Zykeya Barton all had two assists each.
Smith led with one block and four steals in the win.
In the game, the Lady Tigers built an early 4-0 lead in the first quarter, but Slocomb tied the game at 4-4 with 5:10 left to play.
From there, the Lady Tigers built an 8-4 lead with 2:40 to play and held the 8-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, T.R. Miller held a 12-10 lead with 5:18 left to play before the half, but outscored Slocomb 9-2 in the remaining minutes to hold a nine-point lead at the half.
The Lady Tigers opened the third quarter on a 7-0 run to hold a 28-12 lead with 6:18 left to play in the quarter.
Slocomb then ended the run with two quick buckets to cut the lead to 28-16 with 5:09 left to play, but the Lady Tigers finished the quarter on a 3-0 run to take a 15-point lead into the fourth quarter of play.
In the fourth quarter, the Lady Tigers’ bench outscored Slocomb 7-1 and ended the game on a 5-0 run to claim the region championship.