By Thomas Sellers Jr.
Moral victories don’t appear on the left side of the win-loss column. Friday night the Millington Lady Trojans displayed several positive signs against rival the Munford Lady Cougars. Despite movement on offense, grabbing several rebounds and flashes of defensive toughness, the Lady Trojans left the William Osteen Gymnasium defeated. Millington had another shot at win No. 1 the following night with the high school opener of the 2018 William Osteen Christmas Tournament. The Lady Trojans welcomed the Manassas Lady Tigers to town. The Lady Trojans took a roller coaster ride to win No. 1 of the season outlasting the Lady Tigers 44-43. “As hard as they’ve been working, these kids have been so frustrated,” Millington Head Coach Bruce Marshall said. “We’ve all been scratching our heads trying to figure out how to get a W. After all the things we’ve gone through the past 5 weeks now, to finally get is a big relief. Hopefully it will help the kids relax more to where we can continue with what we’re trying to do this year.” Millington came out against Manassas using the momentum from the Munford contest. “Coach Gates and I were talking to them last night after the game, we were down 15 at the half,” Marshall recalled. “We only loss the second half by 5 points. We were able to run some offense and run some things with composure. We were doing things we were supposed to do and seeing things we needed to be looking for when we set up.” The Lady Trojans led most of the first half against the Lady Tigers and held Manassas in check offensively. Millington’s halftime advantage grew courtesy of a pair of Alexis Jordan three-pointers in the third quarter. The Lady Trojans led by as much as 10 points. Then the Lady Tigers rallied to tie the game on a couple of occasions in the fourth period. But foul trouble and technical fouls reduced Manassas’ roster to three players by the final buzzer. The Lady Tigers scrapped and clawed with the Lady Trojans. But Millington survived to earn the win. “They play so hard that it’s hard to get mad at them,” Marshall concluded. “They make mistakes but they’re busting their butts every second that they’re on the floor. I can never argue with that. But I wish we could just play a little bit smarter at times. That’s going to come. They are babies to high school basketball.”
Jordan and Halliburton both scored 13 points in the win.
