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Lady Eagles Lose Twice
East Jackson’s girls’ team lost twice
over the weekend, falling to Stephens
County and Jackson County.
PAGE 3B
1B
THE COMMERCE (GA.) NEWS
WEDNESDAY,
DECEMBER 19, 2007
CHS Girls' Basketball
Lady Tigers Strive To
The Christmas break (Winter
Holidays for the politically correct)
couldn’t
Coming up come at a
> wjjc , be r bme
Holiday Classic for the
Dec. 28-29 merce Hi g h
School varsity
Tigers.
They need the rest, and a chance
to focus a little on offense under
Coach Eddie McCurley.
“It’s a good time for a break for
us,” said McCurley whose Tigers
are 2-6 after dropping two of three
games last week. “We’ve gone at it
really hard in practice, especially
from a defensive standpoint.
We’ve got some aches and pains,
some bumps and bruises, so this is
Be More Offensive
a good break for us.”
The Tigers won’t play again un
til Thursday Dec. 28, when they
rematch Dawson County which
beat them 35-23 in Dawsonville
last Saturday. That’s the opening
night of the WJJC Holiday Clas
sic featuring the Tigers, Dawson
County, Athens Christian and So
cial Circle. All games will be in the
CHS gym.
McCurley in his first year as the
Lady Tigers’ coach, is growing
frustrated over the lack of offense.
“When you hold someone under
40 points a game, you ought to be
able to win a game,” he notes.
The Lady Tigers have done the
job defensively, but they just can’t
Please Turn to Page 3B
First-year CHS girls’ coach Eddie McCurley said his team will
use the holiday break to focus on offense.
EJCHS Boy's Basketball
Eagles defeat Indians,
lose to Panthers
East Jackson hosts
Titans Thursday
By Brandon Reed
The East Jackson Eagles came
close, but just missed picking
up a weekend sweep, as they de
feated the
Comin g u p STL
Warrior dians 67-63
Holiday Classic Friday night,
Dec. 27-29 but then lost
vs . Rabun in a rematch
County Jan . 4 with the Jack
son County
Panthers Saturday night, 50-47.
The Stephens County contest
went back and forth all night. The
Indians took an early lead, moving
ahead 14-13 at the end of the first
quarter. The Eagles stayed close
in the second quarter, picking
up 14 more points to stay within
three of Stephens County going
into the half, 30-27. After the half,
East Jackson stayed within reach,
as Stephens County led at the end
of the third 41-37. In the fourth, the
Eagles made their move, outscor-
ing the Indians 19-15 and tying up
the game at 56, forcing overtime.
In overtime, the Eagles scored
11 points to Stephens County’s
seven, to take home the victory.
“It was back and forth all night.
Again, it’s kind of the story of our
season,” said Coach Brian Turner.
“We keep shooting ourselves in the
foot on lay-ups and free throws.
We’ve put ourselves in a hole in
six of the eight games that we’ve
played, and we’ve been fortunate
enough to battle our way out of
some of them and have a 5-3 re
cord. We can’t keep shooting our
selves in the foot, and expect to
battle back all the time.”
Kolby Gilbert powered the of
fense Friday night with 27 points.
Brandon Rucker scored 12, Zak
Pearson 10, Brandon Garrett
eight, Zach Gilbert five, Taylor
Boswell three, and Standrick Ste
vens scored two. Gilbert led in
rebounds, with seven. Rucker had
five assists, while Gilbert and Pear
son had four steals each.
“Give the kids credit, they did
what they had to do late in the
game and in overtime to get the
victory, but it would be nice to start
from the beginning and go all the
Please Turn to Page 4B
Eagle Brandon Rucker brings the ball down the court during
Saturday’s game against Jackson County. Rucker scored nine
points, and picked up three rebounds on the night.
Photo by Lyn Sengupta
Commerce 72, Hebron 45
"Hopefully, we are turning a little bit of a corner offensively." - CHS boys' coach Chad Bridges
Cameron Billings goes up for two points in Commerce’s 72-45 rout of Hebron
Christian.
A Win,
At Last
CHS Boys Stop The
Bleeding, Stomp
Hebron Christian
There’s nothing like a win to build
confidence.
Coach Chad Bridges’ Commerce
Tigers will try to build on their first
victory of
Comin 9 up the season, a
> WJJC 72-45 win over
Holiday Classic Hebron Chris-
Dec. 28-29 tian School last
Thursday, as
play stops for the winter break.
“Hopefully, we are turning a little
bit of a corner offensively,” said
Bridges. “We had one really good
game against Hebron. We’re starting
to shoot the ball better and execute
better. Now we need to get an effort
to match that and intensity to match
that to be where we want to be.”
The Tigers will host the WJJC Hol
iday Classic Friday and Saturday,
Dec. 28-29, but before that will fill
an empty slot Thursday, Dec. 27, at
a Hart County tournament where,
Please Turn to Page 4B
CHS Wrestling
Another Tournament, Another Title
Tigers Wrestlers
Stay Perfect at 9-0
After winning the Madison
County Duals and holding a 9-0
record in dual meets this season,
the Commerce Tigers are look
ing for some better competition.
They’ll get it this week, at the
South Forsyth Tournament Fri
day and Saturday.
“It’s a very tough tournament
with several ranked schools in
all classifications,” notes Coach
Kendall Love.
Please Turn to Page 2B
Andrew
Minish works
over a Banks
County wres
tler during
Commerce’s
win over the
Leopards
last Thursday
night. Photo
by Mark
Beardsley
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