By Rocky Higginbotham

sports editor

JACKSON — Through the years, Joe Miller has been known — once or twice anyway — to raise his voice just a tad, even when his Southeast Lauderdale girls' basketball team is enjoying a lead on the scoreboard.

So despite a 19-point bulge at halftime, Miller wasn't exactly thrilled with the way his team got started Friday afternoon at the Mississippi Coliseum.

"I really kinda got after them at halftime because I didn't think we were playing the way we were capable of playing," Miller said.

Of course, when the Lady Tigers did turn it up a notch coming out of the locker room, it was lights out for Franklin County.

Already enjoying a big lead, Southeast used a 21-4 spurt in the third quarter to blow the game wide open — then the Lady Tigers coasted to a 78-52 win over Franklin County to win the Class 3A state championship.

It's the third state title this decade and second in three years for Miller and the No. 2 ranked Lady Tigers, who improved to 36-1 heading into next week's MHSAA Grand Slam Tournament at the BancorpSouth Arena in Tupelo.

"It was sloppy at times in that first half, but we came out with a lot of energy in that third quarter," Miller said. "Brittany Roberts had a very good offensive quarter right there and Lucy (Ruffin) and Martika (Ivy) did the things they've done for us all season."

Roberts scored 13 points during Southeast's 21-4 run in the third quarter and finished with a game-high 28 points. Ivy owned the glass with 17 points and 16 rebounds, while Ruffin — who earned Player of the Game honors — turned in a triple-double performance with 17 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists and five steals despite turning an ankle in the first half.

"Lucy hurts an ankle early, and a lot of kids would have come out and got that thing taped right then," Miller said. "I asked her if she wanted to tape it and she said 'No, coach, I can go.'

"She's a tough, super player with a great attitude ... I just don't have enough in my vocabulary to describe Lucy Ruffin. She and Tika and LeNell Mitchell — those three seniors were a big reason we were up so big in the first half even though I didn't think we had played very well."

Southeast scored the game's first six points and led 21-13 after one period, then scored nine straight in a somewhat sluggish second quarter and led 37-18 at halftime.

It was a 20-point lead when Roberts cranked it up a notch in the third, scoring six points — four off assists from Ruffin and the other two on a putback — in a span of 29 seconds. Those six were part of a 10-0 run which made it 52-22, and Southeast eventually led by 37 points on two different occasions before the benches emptied.

Mitchell finished with three assists and three steals and freshman Pashen Thompson had eight points, seven rebounds, three steals and three blocks — and Southeast finished with a 56-37 edge on the boards after holding a slim 28-26 advantage at halftime over the larger Lady Dawgs.

"I thought they got too many easy rebounds in the first half," Miller said. "But obviously we did a much better job in the second half and I think we out-hustled them to some balls."

Paige Webster had 15 points and 10 rebounds, Monea Cameron scored 14 points and Shareka Hunt tallied 13 points and nine rebounds to lead Franklin County — which finished 26-11. Webster had four steals and Cameron had four assists and three steals.

Both teams finished with 21 turnovers, but six of Southeast's came in the opening period and nine in the fourth quarter after the game had been decided. In between, Miller said he couldn't have asked for much more — when his Lady Tigers outscored the Lady Dawgs 42-15.

"The coach is never really happy with everything we want to do," Miller said. "But overall, I think we played a pretty good ball game.

"It's been a heckuva year and it's been a heckuva four-year run for some of these girls. They absolutely deserve this and I couldn't be more proud of them."