By By Adam Robinson
sports editor
In a Friday night area game at home against the Cottage Hill Lady Warriors, it took the T.R. Miller Lady Tigers awhile to get on track.
After giving up the first bucket of the game 59 seconds into the match-up, the Lady Tigers did not get their first basket until the 4:31 mark of the game.
But from that point on, the No. 10 ranked Lady Tigers caught fire en route to a 51-20 win. The win  improved the team’s record to 17-2 overall and to 5-0 in area play.
T.R. Miller led 11-4 after the first quarter. In the second quarter, they held Bayside to just one point at the 41.5 second mark in the game while scoring 22 points to grab a 33-5 lead at the half.
T.R. Miller would later outscore Cottage Hill 14-4 in the third quarter to extend their lead to 47-9 heading into the fourth quarter.
In the final quarter, Cottage Hill outscored the Lady Tigers 11-4, but it was not enough to be the Tigers who claimed the 31-oint win.
T.R. Miller used a 17-0 run over the first and second quarters in the win and had a 12-0 run in the third quarter.
Cottage Hill’s points in the fourth quarter were all on an 11-0 run.
Leah Brundidge led T.R. Miller in the win with 18 points and Nakiya Smith added 14 points.
Keydra Shedrone had 10 points and Courtney Jones had six points. Shay Kiser chipped in three points for the Lady Tigers.
T.R. Miller shot 5-of-7 from the free throw line in the big win while Cottage Hill was 1-for-10 in the loss.
T.R. Miller will travel to Monroe County on Friday, but will be back in action at home against Hillcrest on Saturday.
T.R. Miller Lady Tigers 59, Choctaw County 30   
The Lady Tigers of Brewton clinched the regular season area championship and the No. 1 seed in the area tournament Saturday. The top spots came to the team after they finished a perfect 6-0 record in area play. The 59-30 win over Choctaw County landed them in the top spot. The win improved the Lady Tigers to 17-2 overall.
The Lady Tigers led 22-4 after the first quarter and 34-10 at halftime following a 12-6 advantage in the second quarter.
In the third quarter, T.R. Miler used a 13-8 run to extend their lead to 47-18. Both teams scored 12 points each in the fourth quarter as they Lady Tigers earned the 29-point win.
Smith led with 28 points and Jones followed with 12 points in the win. Shedrone added nine points and Brundidge added four points.
Desiree Gibbs chipped in two points along with LaTeysia Montgomery and Elizabeth Reed.
T.R. Miller shot 9-of-16 from the free throw line while Choctaw County was 4-of-11.
T.R. Miller will host the area tournament Thursday, Feb. 4.
Cottage Hill 60,
T.R. Miller 43
One bad quarter: That was the difference in the game Friday night between the T.R. Miller Tigers and the Cottage Hill Christian Academy Warriors. The Warriors earned a 60-43 win over the Tigers to keep T.R. Miller winless at 0-15 overall and 0-5 in area play.
T.R. Miller trailed 14-10 after the first quarter, but fell to an 18-6 run in the second quarter to trail 32-16 at the half.
Both teams scored 19 points each in the second half as Cottage Hill extended their lead to 51-35 heading into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Cottage Hill edged the Tigers 9-8 to get the win by 17 points.
Cottage Hill had an 11-0 run after T.R. Miller scored the first bucket of the game to hold an 11-2 lead in the first quarter and later would add a 10-0 run in the second quarter to take a 27-13 lead with 3:05 left to play.
Edge said all his players played well in the game, but there was one player that really stuck out to him Friday night.
T.R. Miller was 3-for-6 from the free throw line and Cottage Hill was 11-for-18.
Riley had 23 points in the loss for the Tigers and Smith had seven points. Lane and Keenan Pride had four points each. Jackson had three points and Payne and Kameron Winn had one point each.
Choctaw County 65,
T.R. Miller 44
After surrendering 98 points to Choctaw County in Brewton earlier in the season at home, the T.R. Miller Tigers played a “tougher” game against Choctaw County Saturday in Butler, but lost by 21 points to fall to 0-16 overall and 0-6 in area play.
Lane had 17 and Riley had 15 in the loss and Payne added six points.
T.R. Miller and Choctaw County were tied 16-16 after the first quarter, but fell to a 23-10 second quarter to go into the locker room down 39-26 at halftime.
T.R. Miller got into the Choctaw County lead by one in the third quarter as they held a 10-9 advantage to cut the lead to 48-36 heading into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth, Choctaw County held a 17-8 advantage to seal the win.
Cottage Hill 52,
T.R. Miller B-team 32
Trailing by as much as 12 points at one time during the game, the T.R. Miller Tiger B-team cut the lead to four points in the third quarter before falling 52-32 to Cottage Hill Friday night at home.
The loss dropped the Tigers to 3-6 with the loss.
In the game Friday night, Cottage Hill jumped out to an early 7-0 lead and added to their lead with an 8-0 run after T.R. Miller’s first points of the game at the 4:49 point in the game.
T.R. Miller scored to cut the lead to 7-2, but after the 8-0 run by the Warriors, fell behind 15-2 with 3:43 left to play.
Cottage Hill held a 21-4 lead with 2:06 left in the first quarter until the Tigers ended the quarter on a 7-0 run to trail 21-11 at the end of the first quarter.
The Tigers continued on their run to open the second quarter as they cut the lead to eight points, 21-13 with 5:37 left to play before the half.
T.R. Miller would eventually cut the lead to four points after a 6-0 run in the quarter to trail 23-19 with 3:51 left to play as they outscored Cottage Hill 10-7 in the quarter, but trailed 28-21 at the halftime break.
A 3-pointer by Darrion Salter to open the second half one again cut the lead to four points, 28-24, but an 8-0 run by Cottage Hill pushed the score to 36-24 with 1:54 left to play. T.R. Miller was outscored 12-7 in the third quarter to trail 40-28 heading into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Cottage Hill used a 9-0 run to help put the game out of reach and outscored T.R. Miller 12-4 in the quarter to get the 20-point win.
T.R. Miller shot 2-of-6 from the free throw line in the game compared to Cottage Hill’s 16-of-25.
Salter led T.R. Miller in the loss with 11 points and Randy Davis added six points.
David Barragan had four points along with Mark Bryant and Aaron Yuhasz had three points.
Jerric Woods and Caleb Dickey both had two points each in the loss.
Choctaw County 65,
T.R. Miller 54
T.R. Miller’s B-team fell to 3-7 on the road in Butler as they lost 65-54 to Choctaw County.
The Tigers led 11-10 in the first quarter, but fell to an 18-13 run in the second quarter to fall behind 28-24 at the half.
Both teams scored 16 points each in the third quarter to trail 44-40 after the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Choctaw County outscored T.R. Miller 27-14 to take the 11-point win.
Davis led with 16 points and Salter and Bryant both had 14 points. Barragan added six points in the loss.