Monday, February 18, 2013

Millington holds off Bolton in 14-AAA girls semifinal

from Commercial Appeal

Millington got itself to a place it hasn’t been since Erin Clark and Seymon Taylor were freshmen, getting to the District 14-AAA girls final with a 60-57 semifinal win over Bolton Saturday at Cordova.

“Yeah, and I didn’t even get to play back then,” said Clark, after she and Taylor provided the spark needed, then survived a near meltdown as the Trojans (14-14) gave themselves a shot at their first district title since they put together five straight championships between 2006-10.
“We want this bad,” Taylor said.

Standing in their way is a 6 p.m. final-round test Tuesday night against Arlington (17-8), which had an easier time with Craigmont, taking a 58-39 decision. The Tigers have won the last two 14-AAA tournaments, but lost both regular-season meetings with Millington this year. Bolton (6-19) and Craigmont (12-15) play for third place Monday night at 6.

Taylor and Clark each scored 16 points for Millington, six each in a 16-4 run that opened up a 51-34 lead on the Wildcats (6-19) with three minutes to play in the game.

With Bolton collapsing on Millington’s inside tandem of Treasure Redding and Tiara Caldwell, the two senior guards found enough space to set up for a series of short jumpers on the wing, or at the edge of the lane.

“They were baiting us to try and throw the ball inside, but we started taking the shots rather than trying to force it inside,” Clark said.

The pair were also strong on defense, making up for the absence of senior Kendra Richardson, who sat out this game on a team suspension after a technical foul in a regular season-ending loss to Bartlett.

“It was tougher out there without that third guard to help with the ballhandling against the press,” Taylor said.

The last three minutes of the game became a game of free throws, and an absolute nightmare for Millington.

Bolton, which has a roster laden with freshmen and sophomores, hit 11 of 12 of free throws to close the gap. Millington, meanwhile, missed 8 of 11 free throws during the same stretch, capped by two misses from Clark with 19.5 seconds left.

Freshman Charity Savage, who led all scorers with 19 points, converted a three-point play with 12.9 seconds left, cutting Millington’s lead to 58-57. But Clark was fouled on the inbounds pass, and this time hit both free throws to give Millington its final cushion.

Caldwell had 10 of her 17 points in the first half to help the Trojans take a 24-18 lead into the locker room.

“We played well, then tried to give it back,” Millington coach Bruce Marshall said. “But the seniors have worked hard to get back to this point and we’re happy to have this opportunity again.”
Junior Kayla Bolden added 14 points and sophomore Jaelyan Jones 11 for the Tigers.

“We’re so young, that maybe the moment was too big for us early,” Bolton coach Jason Martin said, “but we gave them a battle.”

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