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EJCHS Basketball
Terin Gillespie looks for
an opening Thursday night
against Oconee County. The
Eagles lost 52-42.
Photo by Brandon Reed
Lady Eagles
Win 1, Lose
2 In Tourney
By Brandon Reed
The East Jackson Lady Eagles
ended 2007 with two losses and a
win in the Oconee Warrior Clas
sic over the weekend.
The team started Thursday
night with a loss to host Oconee
County as the Warriors defeated
the Eagles 52-42.
Autumn Wilbanks and Bralee
Griffin both scored nine points
in the game, while Dane Gaillard
and Emma Turner each had nine
rebounds.
The Lady Eagles then beat the
Towers Titans, 59-49. Scoring
details from that game were not
available.
East Jackson rounded out the
Classic with a loss to North Hall,
63-46. Wilbanks scored 17 points,
while Emma Turner pulled down
11 rebounds, and Callie Moore
had five steals.
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Junior Standrick Stephens
looks for a way around an
Oconee County defender.
Photo by Brandon Reed
Eagles To Host
Rabun County
Friday Night
By Brandon Reed
The East Jackson Eagles
wrapped up the 2007 section
of their inaugural season at the
Oconee Warrior Classic over the
weekend with two losses and a
win.
Play started Thursday night,
as the Eagles went up against
Oconee County. It was a closely
contested game, but in the end,
East Jackson found itself down
by nine points, 64-55.
Kolby Gilbert led the scoring
with 18 points, while Brandon
Rucker added 15.
“Whether it was the holidays, or
whatever, we didn’t play with the
energy that we did ending up be-
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CHS Girls' Basketball
Tigers Hope Improvements Will
Soon Show Up In Win Column
What a difference a couple of
baskets at the right time would
have made for the Commerce
Lady Tigers in last weekend’s
WJJC Holiday Tournament.
TheTigers dropped both games,
the first to Dawson County after
leading most of the game, 45-39,
then lost 51-47 Saturday night to
Banks County in the consolation
game.
The Tigers’ next game will be
Friday, Jan. 4, when they host
Prince Avenue.
“We’re very close to putting
a good game together for four
quarters,’’ said coach Eddie Mc
Curley, who sees improvement
every week with his 2-8 squad.
“We’re playing teams close and
making a lot of mistakes,’’ he said.
“I wouldn’t want to play us; I think
we’re a dangerous team.’’
The Tigers are staying close
Last Week's Scores
Dawson Co. 45, Tigers 39
Banks Co. 51, Tigers 47
with rebounding and defense. If
they can put the ball in the hole
a couple more times a game, the
Tigers will put one in the win col
umn.
“We’re doing two things well,
rebounding and defense. As long
as we do those things well, we’ll
be in every game, just about,’’ he
says.
Dawson 45-Tigers 39
Commerce led most of the
game, using a press to good ef
fect, but a lack of offense in the
final quarter — only four points —
allowed Dawson to escape.
“We missed some shots early in
the fourth quarter that got us into
the position where we had to foul
them, and they made their shots,’’
McCurley explained. “We had a
couple of easy shots that if we’d
made them, we would have been
able to maintain our lead and
hold them off.’’
Terra Hancock led in scor
ing with nine, followed by Brit
tany Sewell with eight and Jessie
Flint and Lauren Jones with six
apiece.
BCHS 51-CHS 47
Against Banks County, the Ti
gers played from behind most
of the night, but managed to stay
close.
Sewell powered the offense
with 22 points.
‘They did something I hadn’t
seen them do. They battled
back,’’ said McCurley. “We were
down eight points with two and
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Senior guard Jasmine Sanders puts up a shot against Dawson
County Friday night.
Dillion Desean workes over an opponent in a recent match.
CHS Wrestling
2nd In Keen,
Tigers Head To
Amicalola Tourney
Following a second place finish in a severely pared down
Keen Classic last Friday, the Commerce Tiger wrestling team
will travel to Dawson County Friday and Saturday for the 23-
team Amicalola Classic. Wrestling starts at 5:00 Friday and
at 9:00 Saturday morning.
Jefferson may just be too good to lure other teams into a
tournament, because the annual “Classic’’ dropped to a four-
team dual meet which, to no one’s surprise, Jefferson domi
nated.
Jefferson swept all three of its matches, including a 70-6 win
over the Tigers. Commerce beat Banks County and Social
Circle to finish second.
“To be honest, we didn’t wrestle very well,’’ Coach Kendall
Love remarked. “I felt like the Jefferson match was closer
than the score showed. We had a lead in some matches and
then did something we weren’t supposed to do or did some
thing crazy and got pinned. We’ve still got weaknesses to
work on.’’
They’ll start at Dawson County, which has a strong field,
according to Love.
“It’ll be competitive for us. There are several ranked teams,
including the number one ranked team in AAA, Gilmer
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CHS Boys' Basketball
Tigers Looking For Some Wins In The Second Half
Taylor Gary brings the ball upcourt against looks on. The Tigers will host Prince Avenue
Dawson County as coach Chad Bridges Friday night. Photos by Mark Beardsley
Coach Chad
Bridges’ Tiger
basketball team
is looking for a re
versal of fortune
starting Friday night when Prince
Avenue Christian School visits.
The Tigers, now 1-8, dropped
both games in the WJJC Holiday
Tournament last Friday, but their
coach says he saw evidence that
things are getting better.
The Dawson Tigers knocked off
the Commerce Tigers 59-49, but
that score was 20 points closer
than the 72-42 shellacking Daw
son put on CHS two week earlier;
and the 34-33 loss to Social Circle
in the consolation game was a
game that could have been won.
“In the second half, I really think
there are some winnable games
out there,’’ Bridges commented.
“If we play with the effort and in
tensity we played with Friday and
Saturday, we’re capable of surpris
ing some people.
“Just over the past week, I’ve
seen definite improvement. Our
defensive play is better and our
rebounding has been much bet
ter. We still need to improve our
ball handling
skills and shoot
ing skills, but our
execution has got
ten better; we’ve
gotten in the right spots at the
right time. It’s just a matter of
making that good pass and knock
ing down a shot.’’
Dawson 59, CHS 49
“The last time we played, they
won by 30. We played much
tougher and did a better job de
fensively,’’ said Bridges. “I was
very pleased with our effort. We
played much harder, especially
on defense. We did a better job of
contesting shots. The first game,
we did not contest their shots; Fri
day, we did.’’
That could account for why
Dawson made 10 fewer three-
point shots last Friday than in the
Dec. 15 game.
Freshman Brandon Romans led
the offense with 13 points, and
Matt Adams scored 12.
“Brandon stepped up and did
a good job for us. Matt Adams
played well too. He had 12 points
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Last Week's Scores
Dawson Co. 59, Tigers 49
Social Circle 34, Tigers 33