Blue Not Enough as Miles Falls to Tuskegee
Box Score Tuskegee struggled to keep up with
Porshia Blue Saturday afternoon at the Bill Harris Arena. Unfortunately, the senior guard did not get enough offensive assistance from her teammates as Tuskegee used surges early and late in the second half to defeat the Lady Golden Bears 62-55. The loss was the second straight overall and seventh consecutive conference defeat for Miles (4-13, 1-9) while Tuskegee (2-16, 2-9) snapped an eight-game losing streak.
Miles was in control for most of the first half. While the lead never was bigger than four points, the Lady Golden Bears were able to unleash Blue on the offensive end and the Golden Tigers had no answer. Blue scored 16 or her game-high 26 points in the first half on 5-of-8 shooting as Miles led 28-25 at the break. She finished with eight rebounds and six steals.
But the beginning of the second half was a nightmare for the Lady Golden Bears. Tuskegee came out of the locker room and went on a 11-2 run to take a lead they would not relinquish. The lead would grow to 45-35 midway through the secondd half but Miles, using full court pressure, began to force the Golden Tigers into several turnovers. When
Shawntal Byrd knocked down a jumper with 3:15 remaining, the Miles deficit was just 54-52.
The Lady Golden Bears, though, would not make a basket the rest of the game, missing its last seven shots and adding two turnovers. Miles shot just 33 percent from the field for the game and had trouble containing Tuskegee in the second half, which made 13-of-19 shots from the field (68 percent) over the final 20 minutes.
Demetries McNealey scored a game-high 14 points for Tuskegee.
Ebony McNeill had nine points and five steals while
Ashley Steger added six points and seven rebounds for Miles, which hosts Spring Hill College on Monday at Knox-Windham Gymnasium. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
