Posted on November 20, 2014.
By Thomas Sellers Jr.
Lady Trojan Glenda Garner secures a rebound among several Lady Mustangs last Thursday in Millington’s 42-36 win.
Opening night nerves? Or maybe it was something the Memphis Metro Home School Lady Mustangs were doing, but the Millington Lady Trojans left a few points off the William Osteen Gymnasium scoreboard last Thursday night. But among the fanfare and MCHS Athletic Hall of Fame inductions, Head Coach Bruce Marshall’s Lady Trojans held off MMHS for a 42-36 win. “Myself, Coach Stevenson and the girls are excited about the win,” Marshall noted. “But they know we didn’t play anywhere close to as well as we can play. “We’ve got to make layup for sure,” he added. “We missed at least 10, six on one possession. We just missed and missed.” Most of Millington’s made field goals came in the paint courtesy of post players like Glenda Garner and Tamia Aldridge. But the duo was making foul shots early in the contest to help the Lady Trojans lead 18-16 at the break. The Lady Mustangs tied the game at 18-18 early in the third quarter. Then Garner broke the deadlock with a bucket. MMHS took advantage of Millington misses to keep the game close throughout the third quarter even taking a 23-22 advantage. T’Asia Bland regained the lead for Millington when she stole the ball and raced to the other end for a layup. The Lady Trojans were ahead 25-23 after three quarters. Then Millington went on a 11-2 run to start eh fourth quarter behind the play of Aldridge. She hit a couple of layups to spark her team toward a 36-25 lead. MMHS made run to cut the Millington lead down to 39-36. But Aldridge, Garner and teammate Jherika Brown hit free throws down the stretch to earn the victory. “We showed some composure down there toward the end,” Marshall said. “To where last year it was a crapshoot on free throws. We actually there late in the ball game, we made free throws. And that’s how you win ballgames like that where they are close down to the end. We were looking to shoot. Make them foul you and win the game the way it supposed to be.” Marshall said the lessons from last season prepared his team for opening night. The 2013-14 Lady Trojans had one senior in Kendra Richardson. She’s now playing college basketball. “I have to Kendra a lot of credit,” Marshall acknowledged. “She was so instrumental in keeping those kids working hard. It’s carried over.
“The kids are doing more shooting on their own and doing things outside of just practice,” he concluded. “That’s what it takes to become a really good basketball team.”
