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Inside
Important Week Ahead
After picking up third win of season, the Ti
gers face an important week of basketball.
PAGE 3B
IB
THE COMMERCE (GA.) NEWS
WEDNESDAY,
JANUARY 23,2008
Class A Duals
State Meet
'A Flop'
For Tigers
Illness, Weather
Kill Chance Of
Big Duals Finish
Tiger wrestling coach Kend
all Love has a modest goal for
the upcoming week.
“We just want to get well,’' he
insists.
The Tigers competed in the
state Class A duals last week
with starters Chase Bowen
(189) and Tyler Austin (171)
staying at home recuperat
ing from the flu and with four
wrestlers who competed while
sick.
“It was kind of a flop," said
the Tiger coach of the state
meet, which itself was abbre
viated out of concerns of the
oncoming winter storm.
The Tigers need to be healthy
this weekend, when they travel
to Habersham Central High
School Friday and Saturday
for the “Sham Slam" tourna
ment, a 20-team affair featur
ing many of the best wrestling
programs in the state.
“It’s a hammer of a tourna
ment,’’ Love insists. “It’ll be the
toughest tournament we go to
all year.’’
The Jefferson Dragons, tops
in Class A, will be there. So
will Lafayette and Wesleyan,
ranked first and second in
Class AA; Northwest Whit
field, which is ranked near the
top in Class AA; and Central
Forsyth and Brookwood, two
Class AAAAA powers.
“Usually, I say we’ll be doing
well if we
Coming up
► Sham Slam
Friday, 5:00, Sat
urday, 9:00 @
Habersham Cen
tral
place in
the first
two or
three in
a tourna
ment. If
we can
finish in the top seven or eight,
I’ll be pleased,’’ Love said.
First things first: get healthy.
Love gave the Tigers Monday
off, but he figures there will
be a good chance that Bowen
and Austin will not be able to
wrestle by the weekend.
Bremen 43-CHS 24
“It was really a good dual
meet, considering...’’ Love said.
“We lost three matches by two
points or less. We just ran into
some bad luck.’’
Winning for the Tigers were
Addison Davis at 103, Dillion
DeSean at 112, Phillip Edwards
at 145, Thomas Sears at 152
and Terrence Martin at 160.
Last Wednesday, Martin,
Doug Maloch, Andrew Min-
ish and Baxter Barnes — along
with Bowen and Austin — all
recorded fevers at practice, so
Love cut it short and sent all
six to the doctor. While Bowen
and Austin were diagnosed as
having the flu and ordered not
only to miss the State Duals,
but also to stay out of school,
Martin, Maloch, Minish and
Barnes all competed.
“They were sick, but they
wrestled well. I was proud of
them,’’ their coach said.
The meet featured one round
of dual matches Friday night,
and Saturday, all of the teams
that had lost Friday were sent
home because of the weather.
Jefferson beat Bremen in the
finals to win the competition.
“It was just our bad luck,’’
Love said. “I really felt like we
had a shot to make the finals
if we had everybody healthy,
but you’ve got to go with what
you’ve got.’’
Lady Eagles Hope To Notch 2nd Subregion Victory Friday Night
The Lady Eagles
picked up their first sub-
region win of the year
last Tuesday, Jan. 15,
beating Banks County
53-49.
They then dropped a
game to Union County
Friday night, 53-35, at
home, and were sched
uled to travel to Fannin
County last (Tuesday)
night. Results of that
game were not available
by press time.
The Eagles will travel
to Clayton Friday to
take on Rabun County
and will host Providence
Christian Saturday.
EJCHS 53-BCHS 49
“We played a much-im
proved all-around game,
playing hard the entire
32 minutes,’’ comment
ed coach Amy Larimer.
“We showed a lot more
patience on offense
and were able to capi
talize on the best avail
able shots. We needed a
win, and this was a great
game for us.’’
It was back and forth
for three quarters, with
the Eagles holding a one-
point 9-8 advantage after
one quarter and trailing
by two, 25-23 at the half.
They led 35-34 after the
third stanza and kept
the Lady Leopards at
bay in the fourth quarter,
outscoring them 18-15 to
seal the victory.
Autumn Wilbanks and
Marley Pullian did the
heavy lifting on offense,
scoring 17 and 16 points
respectively. Dane Gail-
lard added nine and
Dynelle Todman seven.
Emma Turner grabbed
six rebounds, while Pul
lian and Gaillard pulled
down five apiece. Terin
Gillespie produced six
assists, Turner blocked
seven shots and Pullian
and Todman had three
steals apiece.
Union 53, Eagles 35
The Union County
game was a different sto
ry, as the Lady Panthers
built a lead early and
added to it during the
course of the game.
They led 11-7 after one
period, were up 17-11 at
the half and 31-20 after
three quarters.
Wilbanks led the Eagle
offense with a dozen
Cont. on Page 2B
Coach Amy Larimer discusses strategy during a timeout in
Friday’s loss to Union County.
CHS Girls' Basketball
Lauren Jones seeks an open teammate as coach Eddie McCurley looks on.
Lady Tigers
Look For
The Answers
Coming up
> @ Jefferson,
Friday @ 7
p.m.
-*■ @ Banks
County, Saturday
@5:00
The Commerce Lady Tigers will get a good idea of where they
stand this week.
Coming off a 51-30 win over Tallulah Falls Jan. 15, the Tigers,
4-10, were scheduled to play No. 4 Towns
County Tuesday night. Details of that game
were not available by press time.
Then the Tigers will travel to Jefferson Fri
day night and Banks County Saturday.
“Towns County is going to be tough,’’ ob
served coach Eddie McCurley Monday. ‘They
beat Jefferson by one on Friday. They’re a
very good team, with some real strong guard
play, and they run a lot of offenses and de
fenses and do them all pretty well.’’
It won’t get much easier over the weekend. The Lady Dragons
knocked off Commerce earlier this season, and the Tigers have
fallen twice to the Lady Leopards by a total of four points.
“We kind of know what to expect,’’ said McCurley of the Jef
ferson match-up. “I just hope we can play with the same kind of
intensity we played Jefferson with last time. If we do that, we’ll be
in the game and we’ll have a chance.
“We’ve lost to Banks County in close games twice. Hopefully, we
can put one on our side.’’
Against Jefferson Jan. 11, Commerce was down by seven at the
Please Turn to Page 3B
EJCHS Boys’ Basketball
Eagle Men Hope To Expand Two-Game Winning Streak
Eagles Pick A Good Time To
Play 'Best Basketball' Of The Season
The East Jackson Eagles
picked a good time to play
their best basketball of the
year.
The Eagles beat Banks
County last Tuesday, 76-
56, in Homer, then best
ed Union County 68-59
Friday night. They were
scheduled to host sixth-
Comingup
>@RabunCoun- U nde-
ty, Friday, 7 p.m. feated)
> vs. Provi- Fannin
dence Christian Coun-
Saturday, 4 p.m. ty in
what
coach Brian Turner called
a “huge game’’ Tuesday
night. Results of that con
test were not available by
press time. On Friday, the
Eagles will travel to Clay
ton to play Rabun County
before hosting Providence
Christian Saturday in a
non-region game.
“There are five teams
on our side of the subre
gion who can legitimately
play for the champion
ship,’’ Turner pointed out.
“That’s why it’s important
to get a bye in the first
round of the tournament
so you don’t have to fight
through everyone in the
subregion.’’
Turner was excited
about his team’s play as
of late.
“I think we’re starting to
play,’’ he said. “Last week
is the best we’ve played all
year. We hope to continue
to build on that and see
what happens in the rest
of the region.’’
Eagles 76-Leopards 56
While the Eagles led
virtually all night, it was a
21-7 third-quarter run that
put the Leopards away.
“We were up by five at
the half and came out the
second half and played re
ally well,’’ Turner said. “We
forced a lot of turnovers
on steals and got some
easy buckets. We kind of
maintained the lead from
there.’’
The Eagles led 19-16 af
ter one quarter, 33-28 at
the half and were up by
19, 54-35, entering the
fourth quarter.
Kolby Gilbert and Bran
don Garrett both had
double-double nights.
Gilbert led the scoring
with 18 points and had 11
rebounds; Garrett had 11
points and 10 boards.
They had some help,
however, as 11 other Ea
gles put points up on the
board.
“Our point guard got
into some foul trouble
and Taylor Boswell came
off the bench and played
a terrific game,’’ Turner
commented. “He ended
Cont. on Page 2B
Terry Cox takes a shot from the lane against Union County.