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The Commerce News Sports CONTACT US: Brandon Reed / brandon@mainstreetnews.com / (706) 367-5233 or (706) 335-2927 CHS Wrestling Nick Arostegui has his first-round opponent Friday night. Arostegui won the match and won in trouble in the 130 weight class during the first place in the tournament. first round of the Apalachee Invitational last Tigers Win Apalachee Invitational The Commerce High School wrestling team won the Apalachee Invitational tournament last weekend and knocked off AAA schools Clarke Central and Stephens County. They’ll try to build on that Satur day at the Madison County Duals in Danielsville. The Tigers are now 2-0 in dual matches; in two tour naments, they’ve won one and finished in the top 10 in the other. “I think they’re excited on the one hand (with the Apalachee win), but on the other hand, they know we have a lot of work to do,” said Coach Kendall Love. “We’ve got to get a lot better to compete at the state level.” Love was surprised — not greatly, but a little — with the Tigers’ showing at Winder Saturday. “I thought we would finish in the top three, but Apalachee is a pretty good triple-A team,” he said. “I wasn’t sure how we’d fare against them, but the guys wrestled well.” Taking first place were Addison Davis at 103; Nick Arostegui at 130; Dustin McClain at 140; and Phillip Edwards at 145. Please Turn to Page 4B 1B THE COMMERCE (GA.) NEWS WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2007 CHS Girls' Basketball Lady Tigers Break Into Win Column Over Spartans Junior guard Lauren Jones takes a shot during first-half action against Athens Academy. Commerce won 39-27. The Commerce Lady Tigers got their first taste of victory last week, beating Athens Acad emy. That win was sandwiched between losses to Social Circle Dec. 4 and Athens Christian last Saturday. Coach Eddie McCurley’s troops are 1-4 and were to play Prince Avenue Tuesday (results were not available by press time) and will host Hebron Christian School Friday and travel to Daw son County Saturday. While the Social Circle game was a big letdown, McCurley said he continues to see improve ment in the girls’ game. “Coming off the effort against Banks County (a 50-49 loss in the season opener) and playing with just not a lot of emotion really set us back,” the coach explained. “The next day in practice, our players got the idea that that was not going to be acceptable.” One result was a more focused effort Thursday afternoon at Ath ens Academy, where the Tigers beat the Spartans 39-27. Then, on Saturday, they played their best game of the year but fell 55-43 to Athens Christian School. Like the boys, the Lady Tigers are still having trouble putting the ball in the hoop, but there are other areas where McCurley seeks improvement. “We’ve got to get our team where it needs to be before we can start worrying about how to play oth er teams,” he said. “We’re really, Please Turn to Page 3B EJCHS Wrestling Eagle Wrestlers Continue Improvement By Brandon Reed The East Jackson Eagles wrestling team continues to gain footing in its inaugural season. After losing to both Blessed Trinity and West Hall last week, the team picked up a win against Clarke Central, and then dropped a match-up with Habersham Central. East Jackson wrestling coach Frank Caputo said his team wrestled really well against some tough opponents. “Blessed Trinity was a final ist in the duals competition last year,” he said. “I think they ended up fifth or so in the state. They were really good compe tition, and we wrestled really well. West Hall was the same situation. We had a chance to beat them. We were ahead in three matches with less than 30 seconds left and got beat, which cost us there, but that’s one of those things.” Caputo says he is definitely seeing improvement out of his young team. “There were some young kids that never won matches that have a chance to win, which is good,” he said. “We’re moving Please Turn to Page 2B Autumn Wilbanks looks for an opening during a recent game. She led the Eagles in scoring in last week’s contest against Oglethorpe County, picking up 16 points. Photo by Brandon Reed Lady Eagles Are On A Winning Streak EJCHS Girls' Basketball Face Stephens Co., Rematch With JCCHS This Weekend By Brandon Reed After coming off of a disap pointing outing against Jack son County, the Lady Eagles of East Jackson have put to gether back-to-back wins, im proving their overall record to 4-2. The run started against Oglethorpe last Tuesday night, as East Jackson played host to the Patriots in a game that saw the Lady Eagles come away with the win, 47-38. East Jackson took an early lead, moving out to an 8-6 ad vantage at the end of the first quarter. From there, the Lady Eagles never looked back, leading 23-14 at the half and 35-23 after three periods, be fore coasting in with the win. Autumn Wilbanks led the scoring with 16 points and Dynelle Todman added 12. Dane Gaillard had seven rebounds on the night, with Emma Turner getting six, Todman six, and Terin Gillespie five. Turner also had six blocks, Todman led the team with five seals, and Gillespie had four assists. “We did not play well, but we were lucky enough to come out with a win,” said Coach Amy Larimer. The Lady Eagles then trav eled to West Forsyth, where they picked up another win against the Wolverines. It was a close game, but in the end, East Jackson won 45-41. The Lady Eagles found themselves in a come-from- behind situation right from the start, as the Wolverines led 14-8 at the end of the first quarter. East Jackson was able to close to within three points at the half, and to within one at the end of the third quar ter, 27-26. The Eagles would move ahead for the victory in the fourth quarter. Todman led the team in scoring, picking up 12 points. Gaillard scored 10 and Mar- ley Pullian and Wilbanks scored nine apiece. Gaillard recorded the first double double in Lady Eagles’ his tory as she pulled down 10 rebounds to go with those 10 points. Todman had three steals, and Turner recorded six blocks. “I was proud of my team,” said Larimer. “We saw some things that we haven’t seen before, such as a half-court press and continuously changing defenses. They were able to adjust to them and once again have a very productive fourth quarter to pull out the victory. “I have also been throw ing some new formations at them and they adjusted to those as well.” The Lady Eagles have a challenging weekend ahead, as they’ll travel first to Ste phens County for a Friday match-up with the Indians, then travel to Jefferson for a rematch with the Panthers Saturday. “We will prepare for those throughout the week and be ready to play,” Larimer said. TangerTown Value Shopping ON WORTH * NOVA CINEMAS ■ HIBBETT SPORTS * BLACK & DECKER * CATO'S ■ OLD NAW . AND MORE 1 Commerce, Georgia • 1-65, Banks Crossing, Exit 149 * 706-335-3354 * Mon-Sat 9-9, Sun 12-6 Nail Pearl and Tan $2 OFF Manicure and Pedicure Combo or Solar Nail Set Located at 450 Tanger Drive in Commerce. GA. Ncl redeemable for cash nr any services nnl direclly mentioned within coupon. PltotDcapies will not be accepted Offer euptres 1 W3t/07. Valid at (he Tanger Town CenlTe Imalinn Dnly. 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