By Thomas Sellers Jr.
Central forward Nina Davis goes up for two points against Millington’s Treasure Reading last week.
MEMPHIS — Central Lady Warrior Nina Davis has experienced State Tournament games, one-on-one showdowns and even the pressure of being recruited by the defending National champions.
But last week even the Baylor Lady Bear signee couldn’t escape the first-game gitters. Despite nerves Davis and her Lady Warrior teammates pulled out a win at Munford.
On Nov. 19 a relaxed Central team took to its homecourt to take on the Millington Lady Trojans and their D-I signee Tiara Caldwell. Davis put on a hot shooting display as her teammates neutralized UT-Martin’s signee Caldwell in Central’s 67-31 win.
“I think today it was our second game,” Davis noted. “The first game, everybody was kind of nervous. Everybody was getting to gel together with a lot of new players on the team. Today we seemed more relaxed and settled and played a better game.”
Behind the shooting of Davis and her teammate Tia Wooten Central built a 23-6 first quarter lead. Davis had six point in the period, but she was just heating up.
Caldwell tried to keep the Lady Trojans close with 5 quick points in the second quarter. But When Davis made a layup making the score 32-13, that sparked a personal 22-12 run over two quarters.
“Once it starts going in and you see it going through the goal,” Davis said, “you get that player’s rythm. I just kind of went for it.”
Davis scored 22 straight points for Central to make the lead 54-25 in the third quarter.
The small forward stepped out and nailed back-to-back three pointers. Then a layup and a pair of foul shots made the halftime score 44-15.
Davis came out of the locker room still in the zone hitting a pair of triples. Millington scored five points with an Erin Clark three-pointer and Kendra Richardson put-back layup.
Then Davis went back on the attack going to the rim and making a shot off glass.
Lady Trojan Treasure Reading tried to cool off Davis by attacking on Millington’s offensiive end. Redding made a layup. Then Richardson stepped outside the arch and hit a three-pointer.
Davis hit one more bucket on a hot streak that made Millington’s deficit 29 points. Central was ahead 58-25 after three quarters.
In the fourth quarter Caldwell scored 4 of Millington’s six points. And Central tallied 9 points in the final period.
“It feels real great to win like this especially going into this week,” David concluded. “We have four games this week. Our games Friday and Saturday are really big games. So to have a great win like this gives our team confidence.”
