JMA girls lose Lady Trojan battle

Published 2:46 pm Tuesday, January 14, 2025

The John Milledge girls climbed their way out of a sizable second-quarter hole, but Tattnall Square Academy played better down the stretch to earn a 50-47 region victory Thursday.

Originally scheduled for Friday, the contest was moved up a day due to the approaching winter storm.

While the light snow wouldn’t come for hours, there was a flurry of activity early on in the girls matchup. The host Lady Trojans went inside to senior center Calah Foston for the first points off the tip while Tattnall Square’s second possession featured a corner 3 from Emma Hicks. The two teams combined for four fouls in the first two minutes.

Play mellowed out and the visitors started gaining a lead, mostly thanks to some excellent ball movement on their offensive end. A last-second score in the post by JMA sophomore Emma Jackson cut the Tattnall Square advantage to 13-8 at the end of one.

TSA, who entered with a 6-5 record, kept up its string of success in the second. A deep jumper by Anna Talcott was followed by Kennedy Walton getting fouled on a putback attempt after she grabbed an offensive rebound. She made the shot, but not the free throw before Hicks knocked down another 3 to make it 22-10. Tattnall Square’s height was giving John Milledge trouble, especially with Foston missing in action due to foul trouble. Still the JMA girls fought to get the margin down to just four before the half was up. Freshman Emma Hudgins’ right-corner three and and-one with 10 seconds left made it 29-25 Tattnall Square at the break.

John Milledge’s youth served it well early in the third. Freshman Pierce Moore provided a boost with back-to-back buckets to tie the ballgame, and the sophomore Jackson converted on a second-chance opportunity to give the Lady Trojans their first lead since the opening minutes. That lead would hold as first-year head coach Jordan Walters’ team was up three going into the fourth.

It wasn’t long, though, before TSA tied things up again. Following a little back and forth, Hicks’ fifth 3 gave the visitors the lead for good. Then Sara Phillips provided the trey that felt like the dagger with just under two minutes remaining.

John Milledge had one more surge left in the tank. A good find to a backdoor cutter resulted in a missed layup, but Jackson was there to clean things up plus the foul to get her team within three with 38 seconds to play. A small difference in the 35-second shot clock and game clock meant the home team could play defense rather than foul. The JMA girls did stand tall on defense and forced a shot clock violation to get one more look at the basket. Senior Lucy Elliott accepted the inbounds pass with 4.3 seconds to go and dribbled to the middle of the floor, pulling up for a runner from about NBA range. Her shot hit off the backboard and then the front of the rim before harmlessly bouncing away at the buzzer.

Jackson paced JMA with 16 points in the loss while Moore pitched in nine. TSA’s Hicks was the game leader with 17. Walton and Ellie Rowland joined her in reaching double figures.

The John Milledge girls will be back on their home floor this weekend, hosting Piedmont Academy and Deerfield-Windsor Friday and Saturday.