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THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2010
JCCHS BOYS BASKETBALL
JHS GIRLS BASKETBALL
Panthers face Hart County Friday
Jefferson picks up win over Oglethorpe
HERE IT COMES
Jackson County’s Nick Oney passes the ball at a recent
game. Oney scored 11 points against Archer last
week. Photo by Brandon Reed
By Brandon Reed
THE JACKSON County
Panthers continue to look for
traction in region play after
dropping games last week to
Archer and Oconee County.
Their next shot to get
their season on track comes
on Friday when they travel
to Hart County to face the
Bulldogs, who enter play this
week 3-2 in the region and
12-3 overall.
Tip-off is scheduled for
8:30 p.m.
ARCHER
The Panthers started out
their week by playing host to
Archer on Tuesday. Jackson
County fell behind in the
first quarter but worked hard
to stay within striking dis
tance as Archer led 12-10
at the end of the quarter.
The Tigers added another 20
points to their tally while
Jackson County scored 15 in
the second quarter to make it
a 32-25 game at the half.
The game remained close
in the third quarter. While
the Tigers added 12 points
to their total, the Panthers
added 11 to theirs to stay
within eight points, 44-36.
But in the fourth quarter,
Archer broke loose, scoring
18 points while the Panthers
scored 13, giving Archer the
62-49 victory.
Juice Harrison and Nick
Oney led in scoring for the
Panthers with 11 points each.
Joseph Smith and Jarvis Shaw
scored eight each. Jonathan
Holton scored six points.
“We played a much better
game tonight,” said coach
Britt Beaver. “We execut
ed our offense very well.
Unfortunately we couldn’t
get our shots to fall. Our
defense was not as solid as
it has to be and we did not
rebound well. If we pull down
a couple more rebounds and
hit a couple shots then we are
right there. Archer was able
to pull the ball out with a
six-point lead and we had to
foul and put them on the line.
They shot the ball extremely
well.”
“We
improved
tonight,”
Beaver
added.
“We have
to hang in
there, continue to work hard
and improve and I believe
good things will happen for
us.”
OCONEE COUNTY
The Panthers next played
host to the Warriors of
Oconee County, who entered
play winless in the region.
Despite a strong effort,
Jackson County came up
short against the Warriors,
who won 52-40.
Juice Harrison led Jackson
County in scoring with 15
points and 10 rebounds.
Joseph Smith scored seven
points. Jonathan Holton
scored six points.
“Oconee is a team we
match up well with,” Beaver
said. “We played fairly well
defensively, however Oconee
shot incredibly well. They
were 13 of 19 from the three-
point line. We had a lot of
open looks, we just couldn’t
knock our shots down shoot
ing 16 of 44 from the floor. If
we hit a few, and they miss a
few, it is a new ballgame.
“We shoot a lot of shots
weekly in practice and also
every morning, they just
wouldn’t fall for us tonight.”
The loss left the Panthers
1-4 in the region and 3-11
overall.
The Panthers were sched
uled to travel to Lawrenceville
Tuesday to face the Bears
of Mountain View. Results
were unavailable at press
time.
Coming up:
WHAT: JCCHS @
Hart Co.
WHERE: Hartwell
WHEN: Jan. 22 @
8:30 p.m.
Lady Panthers continued from IB
“I was real proud of the effort,” said coach
Chad Pittman. “It might have been one of the
better nights we’ve had. I gave a few people a
chance to show me what they have.”
Pittman pointed out a couple of those that
stepped up in the game.
“Freshman Savannah Roncadori played really
well,” he said. “She played the back of our press.
She had six steals and ended the game with
eight points. I was really proud of her. Victoria
Fontana continued to play well for us. She hit
three threes and scored 15 points. She played
real well defensively with five steals.
“I was really proud to get a lot of production
out of those two spots.”
OCONEE COUNTY
The Lady Panthers were hoping to build some
region momentum when they hosted the Lady
Warriors of Oconee County.
Jackson County showed great intensity in the
first half of the game, holding a 26-20 lead going
into the half.
“We played really, really well in the first half,”
Pittman said. “Everybody had played real well.
Bree (Drew) had 11 points in the first half with
three threes. As a team, we hit six threes in the
first half.”
But in the second half, things didn’t go as well.
The Lady Panthers were one for their first nine.
Oconee County took advantage, and took a 36-31
lead by the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Lady Warriors held
Jackson County to six points while they added
10 to their total. In the end, Oconee County came
away with a 46-37 victory.
Bree Drew led in scoring with 14 points.
Ashley Skelton scored 10.
“In the fourth quarter, we began to not pressure
them as much and not be as aggressive as we
needed to be,” Pittman said. “We just couldn’t
ever get anything going offensively.”
Pittman said that his players were still getting
good looks, but the shots just weren’t going in.
“Can’t do anything about the ball not going in
the hole,” he said. “That’s the way it bounces
sometimes. We’ve got to continue our intensity
and our energy. In the fourth quarter, because of
our lack of scoring, it tended to get in our head a
little bit, I could tell.
“We didn’t give up or quit, but at the same time
our intensity started lacking. Oconee is a good
team. They do a good job. I felt like we did a
good job, we just couldn’t get anything going
offensively in the second half.”
“We’ve got to continue to play defense, con
tinue the intensity and the energy all the way
through the game for 32 minutes and I think we
can be a really good basketball team,” Pittman
added.
With the loss, Jackson County is now 3-3 in
region play and 11-6 overall.
The Lady Panthers were scheduled to travel to
Lawrenceville to face Mountain View on Tuesday.
Results were unavailable at press time.
By Brandon Reed
IT WAS another up and
down week for the Jefferson
Lady Dragons, as their
first region win of the year
against Oglethorpe County
was sandwiched between
losses to Walnut Grove and
Union County.
Up next for the Lady
Dragons is a game as impor
tant for bragging rights as
it is for its affect on their
region standings, as they
play host to the Lady Eagles
of East Jackson on Friday.
The Lady Eagles enter
play this week looking for
their first region win of the
season, and with a 2-12 over
all record.
Jefferson has come away
the winner in the last two
pairings between the two,
winning 46-28 on Feb. 7 of
last year and 52-40 on Jan.
23 of last year.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7
p.m.
WALNUT GROVE
Coming off of a big win
over Commerce the previous
Saturday, the Lady Dragons
of Jefferson were looking for
their first region victory of
the season last Tuesday when
they played host to the Lady
Warriors of Walnut Grove.
Walnut Grove came out
strong, gutting Jefferson’s
press for the first few min
utes of the game. At one
point, the Lady Warriors held
a 17-7 advantage. Jefferson
closed the gap a little before
the end of the quarter to
make it 17-10.
A change in strategy in
the second quarter seemed
to help Jefferson’s efforts as
they outscored Walnut Grove
17-16 to cut the lead to 33-27
at the half.
Despite the strong second
quarter, the Lady Dragons
didn’t fare as well in the sec
ond half of the game, strug
gling to make open shots. In
the end, Jefferson came up
short, losing 60-47.
Erin Knight led in scoring
with 16 points on the night.
Skylar Evanson, Stephanie
Fincher and Rachel Goza
each scored eight points
against Walnut Grove.
“That game was real
ly more about our lack of
defense, I felt like,” said
coach Jason Gibson. “We
scored 47 points, which is
enough to win if you play
any defense at all. We just
didn’t come up with enough
defensive stops to make it
a game. Walnut Grove is a
good team. We’ll have to
go back and work on some
things before we play them
again.”
OGLETHORPE CO.
Next for the Lady Dragons
was a trip to Lexington to
face the Oglethorpe County
Lady Patriots on Friday.
ON THE MOVE
Skylar Evanson, seen here from early action, scored
eight points against Walnut Grove last week.
Photo by Justin Poole
Jefferson took control
early, holding Oglethorpe to
only four points in the first
quarter to take a 20-4 lead at
the end of the quarter. They
would go on to allow the
Lady Patriots only one point
in the second quarter while
Coming up: Jefferson
WHAT: JHS vs. added
EJCHS another
WHERE: JHS 21 points
WHEN: Jan. 22 @ to their
7 p.m. tally,
making it
a 41-5 advantage at the half.
The Lady Dragons would
continue to control the game
in the second half, hold
ing the Lady Patriots to 11
points to take a 50-16 win,
their first region victory of
the season.
Erin Knight led in scor
ing with 14 points. Bethany
Whitlock scored eight.
“We wanted to try to
accomplish a couple of
things while we were down
there,” Gibson said. “One
was working defensively on
being in the right spot, not
allowing penetration, work
ing on our pressure and
working on our trap. Just
really trying to work on cre
ating some offense from our
defense and some easy bas
kets off of our pressure. We
were able to do that against
Oglethorpe.”
UNION COUNTY
Looking again to try to
build momentum from
Tuesday’s win, the Lady
Dragons played host to
Union County on Saturday.
After a sluggish first
quarter that saw the Lady
Panthers take an early lead,
the Lady Dragons got fired
up in the second quarter.
Despite having foul trouble
that led to substitutions,
Jefferson was able to make it
a nine-point ball game by the
end of the second quarter, as
Union County led 31-22 at
the half.
The Jefferson defense
stepped up in the third quar
ter, and by the end, found
themselves down by only six
points, 37-31.
With a minute left in the
game, the Lady Dragons
were down by five points.
A three-pointer by Skylar
Evanson made it only a two-
point deficit, and with 44
seconds left on the clock, the
Lady Dragons tied the game
at 44-44.
But a foul call gave Union
County an opening to retake
the lead. The Lady Panthers
were able to put three more
points on the board after
that, and came away with a
five-point victory, 49-44.
Stephanie Fincher led
in scoring with 13 points.
Stephanie Whitlock scored
eight.
“We’ve got to do a little
better job with our com
posure down the stretch,”
Gibson said. “Hopefully we
can learn from the mistakes
we made on Saturday and if
we’re in that situation again
we’ll be better prepared.”
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