By BY BRUCE HIXON – SPORTS EDITOR
T.R. Miller and Escambia County both had little trouble reaching the final round of the Escambia County Tournament undefeated. Those teams squared off for the championship Saturday at T.R. Miller.
The host Lady Tigers won their first two games against Flomaton and W.S. Neal by 34 and 19 points respectively, while Escambia County flattened W.S. Neal by 44 points and Flomaton by 39.
Friday's games
T.R. Miller 52, W.S. Neal 33
The Lady Tigers withstood a W.S. Neal rally early in the third quarter before they ended the frame on a decisive 14-0 run.
T.R. Miller (4-1) appeared to be in firm control of the game when it took a 24-9 lead into halftime, but the Lady Blue Eagles (3-5) began the second half with a thee-pointer by Tierra Andrews, a bucket from the wing by Tiara Matthews and an offensive rebound bucket by Andrews that shaved the gap to just 24-16.
W.S. Neal had just five first half turnovers, but coughed the ball up eight times in the third quarter. Most of those giveaways fueled the 14-0 run that included three field goals by Keydra Shedrone, two by Donya Grice and one each by Kesha Peterson and Catherine Green. Those buckets took T.R. Miller's lead up to 38-16.
W.S. Neal shot just 17 percent from the field (six-for-34) during the first three quarters before it rebounded to hit eight of its last 15 shots.
Shedrone and Grice both scored 10 points to lead T.R. Miller, which overcame 21 turnovers. Andrews led W.S. Neal with 15 points, while Matthews chipped in 12 points with a team-high nine rebounds.
T.R. Miller vs. W.S. Neal
T.R. Miller 13 11 14 14 – 52
W.S. Neal 6 3 7 17 – 33
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Shedrone 5-0-0-10; Grice 5-0-0-10; Green 3-1-0-9; Williams 1-1-0-5; Brown 1-1-0-5; Peterson 2-0-1-5; Smith 2-0-0-4; Thompson 0-0-2-2; Boley 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 20-3-3-52)
W.S. NEAL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Andrews 2-3-2-15; Matthews 6-0-0-12; Davis 2-0-0-4; Elliott 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 11-3-2-33)
Escambia Co. 54, Flomaton 15
After the Lady Blue Devils won their first game of the tournament by 44 points against W.S. Neal Thursday, they dominated another opponent Friday when they ambushed the Flomaton Lady Hurricanes 54-15.
Escambia County (9-3) stormed its way to a 23-4 lead through one quarter and extended it to a commanding bulge of 34-8 by halftime. The Lady Blue Devils widened the advantage to 50-13 by the end of the third quarter and allowed just two points in the final frame.
Courtney English matched Flomaton's team point total by herself, as she led Escambia County with 15 points. Carol Harden led the Lady Hurricanes (2-6) with six points.
Escambia Co. vs. Flomaton
Escambia Co. 23 11 16 4 – 54
Flomaton 4 4 5 2 – 15
ESCAMBIA COUNTY (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) English 7-0-1-15; Sanders 6-0-1-13; Jones 5-0-0-10; Lee 3-0-0-6; Banks 1-0-2-4; Hartley 2-0-0-4; Jennings 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 25-0-4-54)
FLOMATON (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Harden 3-0-0-6; Hambrick 0-1-0-3; Chavers 0-0-2-2; Cayson 1-0-0-2; Wright 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 5-1-2-15)
Thursday's games
T.R. Miller 57, Flomaton 23
The host Lady Tigers used an 18-2 run in the first half to break open what was a close game and cruised to a 57-23 win over the Flomaton Lady Hurricanes in Thursday's opening round.
T.R. Miller led just 10-8 five minutes into the contest when it ended the frame with a three-pointer by Ashley Williams and buckets by Nakiya Smith, Morgan Hubbard and Janel McCorvey to stretch the lead to 19-8.
The run hit 14-0 in the second quarter where a three-pointer by Catherine Green and a fastbreak bucket by Kesha Peterson quickly stretched the gap to 24-8.
T.R. Miller, which led 31-16 at halftime, put the game away with a 10-0 run to start the second half. Donya Grice contributed a bucket and two free throws in that run, while Smith had a hoop and a free throw and Williams drained a three-pointer that swelled the lead to 41-16.
Nine Lady Tigers cracked the scoring column although Smith was the lone one to hit double digits with a game-high 14 points.
T.R. Miller vs. Flomaton
Flomaton 8 8 2 5 - 23
T.R. Miller 19 12 12 14 - 57
FLOMATON (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Harden 3-0-2-8; Mallet 1-1-1-6; Cayson 2-0-0-4; Chavers 0-1-0-3; Godford 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 7-2-3-23)
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Smith 4-1-3-14; Williams 1-2-0-8; Grice 3-0-2-8; Peterson 4-0-0-8; Green 2-1-0-7; Brown 0-1-1-4; Hubbard 1-0-2-4; Shedrone 1-0-0-2; McCorvey 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 17-5-8-57)
Escambia County 68, WSN 24
Escambia County ended the first half on a 19-3 run and the game on an 18-4 surge, as it easily downed the W.S. Neal Lady Blue Eagles 68-24 in Thursday's opening round.
The Lady Blue Devils used its pressing defense to force 25 W.S. Neal turnovers in the first half and used most of them to build a commanding 41-14 lead by the midway point.
Little changed in the second half where the Lady Blue Eagles committed an additional 12 giveaways and finished with 37 for the game.
Escambia County, which got 19 points from Jasmine Sanders and 17 more from Courtney English, led by as many as 43 points in the second half.
Tiara Matthews led the Lady Blue Eagles, who scored their season low point total, with eight points.
Escambia County vs. WSN
W.S. Neal 8 6 9 1 – 24
Escambia Co. 17 24 21 6 – 68
W.S. NEAL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Matthews 3-0-2-8; Elliott 3-0-1-7; Andrews 1-1-1-6; Davis 1-0-1-3 (Totals: 8-1-5-24)
ESCAMBIA COUNTY (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Sanders 8-0-3-19; English 7-1-0-17; Jones 6-1-1-16; Banks 1-0-3-5; Lee 2-0-1-5; Hartley 1-0-0-2; Culliver 1-0-0-2; Crimbley 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 27-2-8-68)