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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. Please Turn to Page 13A 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- Please Turn to Page 13A 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 Please Turn to Page 14A 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 Please Turn to Page 14A 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 Please Turn to Page 14A Last Week's Scores Dawson Co. 59, Tigers 49 Social Circle 34, Tigers 33