By By BRUCE HIXON Sports Editor
It would be easy for T.R. Miller Lady Tigers senior Ashley Samuel to be caught up in her own individual accomplishments.
Earlier this season she won the Most Valuable Player Awards at the Escambia County and Pensacola Catholic Tournaments. She broke Deanna Jackson's school record for points in a game with 49. Nine times she has outscored the opposing team.
Samuel achieved another milestone Tuesday when her 31 points at W.S. Neal enabled her to pass Felicia Jackson for second place on the school'scareer scoring list.
"It's nice, but I haven't really given much thought to it," Samuel said. "I guess that hasn't really hit me yet."
Samuel has the same attitude as she closes in on perhaps her most impressive accomplishment, 2,000 career points. Only a handful of players in state history have reached that figure.
"Getting to 2,000 points will be a great accomplishment for Ashley. Not many players do that," T.R. Miller coach Ron Jackson said.
"I'm sure things like that will mean a lot more to me when I'm done playing, but winning a state title this season would mean a lot more," Samuel said.
Samuel and the Lady Tigers got to experience that state title during her sophomore season two years ago, but they were denied by Lauderdale County in the semifinals last year.
Samuel went into Saturday's game against Jay 449 points behind Deanna Jackson school's career mark of 2,398 points.
The Lady Tigers have six games left in the regular season and they are guaranteed two postseason games because of their top seed and first-round bye in the Area Tournament.
Samuel would have to average 56.1 points a game to catch Deanna Jackson in that time frame.
If T.R. Miller would advance to the state finals, that would give Samuel three more games. She would need to average 40.8 to catch Jackson in that time frame, a still difficult but at least not absurd figure.
"It will be very tough for Ashley to catch Deanna, but who knows. If she can continue to score what she has been averaging (25 points a game), that would put her up
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there pretty good (between 2,100 and 2,000 points depending on how far the Lady Tigers go)," Jackson said.
While Samuel gets a lot of the attention on the Lady Tigers' roster, she is quick to spread the compliments.
"I can't do what I do without the help of my teammates," Samuel said.
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The East Brewton Little League will hold an
organizational meeting February 3 at 7 p.m. at East Brewton City Hall.
Sign-ups will be held February 5 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and again February 7 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Monroe County High School in Monroeville will host a Baseball Umpire's Camp January 31.
This one-day camp is for certification with the Alabama High School Athletic Association as a high school baseball umpire.
Individuals who are interested in attending the camp or umpiring high school baseball in this area should contact Robert Lose, Jr. at 661-9073.