T.R. Miller girls basketball coach Ronald Jackson will conclude his Hall of Fame career with one last chance at another Blue Map.

The Tigers trailed by double digits early in the second half, but rallied for a 33-28 upset victory over No. 5 Anniston in Tuesday’s Class 4A state semifinal at the BJCC’s Legacy Arena.

“I’m happy to be here,” said Jackson, who has announced his retirement after 41 years. “It’s been a good ride with these Lady Tigers here. This is a small bunch, but they got big heart and laid it all on the court. I couldn’t have prayed for better girls to work with.”

T.R. Miller (26-3) trailed 9-2 at the end of the opening period – Meg Fountain scoring the only points for the Tigers – but held the Bulldogs to 2-of-11 from the field to remain stay close. Both teams matched buckets in the second quarter and Anniston carried a 13-6 lead into the halftime break.

Anniston’s Jada Fomby and T.R. Miller’s Jadin Curry traded buckets to open the second half before Anniston surged ahead to a 19-8 lead with 5:35 left in the third period.

Following a T.R. Miller timeout, the Tigers went on an 8-0 run to close out the third quarter and extended the run to 13-0 in the first two minutes of the final period, taking their first lead of the game at 20-19 on a 3-pointer by Bethany Simmons. Fountain and Simmons combined for three 3-pointers during the run.

Layla Tyus put the Bulldogs back ahead on a quick layup, but Mitchell came alive in the final five minutes and scored 11 straight points to clinch the win for T.R. Miller.

Anniston (29-5) managed to cut the lead to 4 points on a 3-pointer from A’Kayla Perry and pulled within a single possession on a 3-pointer from Serena Hardy, who converted a 4-point play after being fouled on the shot.

Star of the game: Mitchell. The senior guard produced all of her points in the final period as she scored the final 11 points in the game for the Tigers. She scored on back-to-back possessions to kick start a 7-0 run and went 7-of-10 at the free throw line down the stretch.

“Every day at practice, we practice free throws,” Fountain said. “We knew as soon as they started fouling us, we were about to hit them.”

Stat sheet: T.R. Miller – Fountain had 7 points, 3 rebounds and 3 steals, and Simmons finished with 6 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Curry had 6 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, along with 2 blocked shots, and Natasia Reed contributed 3 points and 4 rebounds. Anniston – Hardy led the Bulldogs with 8 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steals, and Perry had 7 points and 2 steals. Fomby finished with 6 points, 2 rebounds and 6 steals and Tykeria Smith had 2 points, 9 rebounds and 4 steals. Tyus contributed 5 points and 5 rebounds.

By the numbers: T.R. Miller shot 35.7 percent overall and 33.3 percent on 3-pointers while holding the Bulldogs to 21.4 percent from the field and 15.8 percent from 3-point range. The Tigers held a plus-2 edge in rebounding and scored 16 points off 16 turnovers.

Did you know? T.R. Miller advances to its seventh championship game in program history. The Tigers are 4-2 in title games, winning in 1995, 1996, 2002 and 2009.

Coachspeak: “Generally, what we do, we try to weigh them down. We do all our running before practice and hopefully, at the end of the game, we will be ready to go. This is a tough bunch of girls. We are going to give 110 percent.” – T.R. Miller’s Ronald Jackson

“What a great game. Congratulations to T.R. Miller, they played hard and scrappy. The team that played hardest deserved it. They made a few more plays than we made tonight. The ball just falls like that sometimes.” – Anniston’s Eddie Bullock

They said it: “I’m ecstatic, knowing that this is Coach Jackson’s last year. We want to win it for him.” – Fountain

“We want to take Coach Jackson all the way.” – Bethany Simmons

“I’m excited. We work really hard and it’s showing.” – Natasia Reed

Next Up: T.R. Miller advances to face No. 1 Good Hope in the Class 4A title game at 4 p.m. on Friday at the BJCC’s Legacy Arena.