By Thomas Sellers Jr.
Before the Millington Lady Trojans compete for any district, Regional, Sub-State or State championship, Head Coach Jason Nichols’ girls want the title of Queens of Highway 51.
With the Munford Lady Cougars still on the schedule this upcoming Friday night, the week of Dec. 6 presented a pair of challengers from up the road. Millington took care of business Tuesday night beating the Covington Lady Trojans.
The middle matchup for the Lady Trojans came Friday night to the William Osteen Gymnasium in the Brighton Lady Cardinals. With the perfect recipe for a letdown after defeating Covington, the Lady Trojans erased any doubt they were focused on Brighton jumping out to a 28-7 lead. Millington would prevail 65-21 over the Lady Cardinals.
“Tuesday we played the “Queens of 51,” that being Covington,” Nichols recalled. “We played them very strong. They came in very scrappy and played us very hard. We went back and forth and we competed.
“In the end like I told you in the preseason, those four guards helped us prevail,” he continued. “Micaiah (Halliburton) had 27 and (Keria) McGhee had 15, 11 with 5 blocks. Before (Jontavia) Bonner went down, she had 8.”
The fourth guard in that quartet is Kayla Dotson. The senior guard showcased her skills against Brighton Friday night assisting or scoring on all Lady Trojan field goals in the opening quarter. Dotson had six assists with all of the shots coming from behind the acre.
After McGhee drilled a three-pointer that made the score 14-3, Millington’s Aubrey Young continued her hot shooting week with three treys in the first quarter. Her last triple made the scoreboard read 27-6.
“But the biggest star of that game (Covington) was Aubrey,” Nichols said. “The sophomore went 3 of 4 from the three-point line. She hit two big daggers. As you saw tonight she went 3 of 5 again. She’s getting confidence.”
Millington’s 28-7 first-quarter advantage matured into a 45-12 halftime score over Brighton. In the second period Halliburton picked up the scoring load for Millington. Halliburton hit a jumper and made a steal leading to a layup that made the tally 42-9.
Millington won the third quarter 12-5 and had a better output over Brighton in the fourth quarter 8-4 to win their second game over a Tipton County team in the week.
“My other players are starting to step up and that makes it easier for the four guards to do what they need to do,” Nichols noted. “Mental focus of having an emotional win on Tuesday and not coming in here tonight with a relapse. We didn’t do that. We stayed focused. They showed maturity.”
