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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.