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Inside .... 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. 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