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PAGE 2B THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS • THE COMMERCE NEWS WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2016 Wrestling ... Cont. from IB “We still felt like we should’ve won the dual match,” Love said. “Just felt like there were certain areas that we need to work harder on and be more intentional on coming off the mat. “They (Archer) rode us a little more than they should have but that’s to their cred it. They’re a good team. They’ve won the Class 6A state championship the last few years. They just out- wrestled us.” This weekend, the team travels to Rochester, Minn., to compete in The Clash. Love said the team won’t forget about the Archer match. Instead, it will use it to get better as the Tigers head into a national com petition against teams from California and other states. Love said several teams competing have half of their lineups ranked nationally in high-school wrestling. “It’s definitely the tough est tournament that any Commerce wrestler has ever been involved with,” Love said. “It’s just a tes tament to the guys that we have right now to get an invite like this. We’re going to go compete and see what happens.” Love adds that if the team finishes in the middle of the pack, that’s a “great” showing, considering the competition it will face. “We’re a small Class A team in Georgia and we’re competing against some of the best teams from across the country,” Love said. By the same token, Love knows his group isn’t satis fied with just being invited. “We want to show that we belong and show there’s a reason why we were invit ed,” he said. “You’ve got to believe that we belong there just like the rest of them and see what hap pens.” He also wants to come out healthy, as upon return ing to Commerce, the Tigers will compete in the Area Duals. Determination Commerce’s Tucker Flint tries for a pin against his Archer opponent during the 126-pound match at last Thursday’s Kyle Maynard Duals. Flint suffered a bloodied nose during the match. He won the match. Photos by Charles Phelps Taking control Commerce’s Mitchell Patton takes control from the top position against his Archer opponent at last Thursday’s Kyle Maynard Duals. Patton won the 182-pound match with a pin in the first round. Coaching from the mat Commerce head coach Kendall Love looks on during a match against Archer at the Kyle Maynard Duals. The Tigers finished third in last Thursday’s event. Banks County Girls' Basketball Lady Leopards fall in overtime against North Hall Big fourth quarter Banks County’s Taylor Parson hits a fourth-quarter layup against the North Hall Lady Trojans last Thursday. Parson had 15 points in the game, 11 of them in the fourth quarter, including eight straight at one point. Photo by Charles Phelps BY CHARLES PHELPS The Banks County girls’ basketball team found itself up eight points with under three minutes left against the North Hall Lady Trojans last Thursday. From the first basket, the Lady Leopards were in firm command. They never trailed at any point in the game. A potential wire- to-wire win was within reach. But a lot can happen in under three minutes, and the Lady Leopards found that out. The Lady Trojans erased a 46-38 lead by going on a 10-1 run in less than two min utes, pushing the game to overtime. And for the first time this season, the Lady Leopards (7-4, 1-0 Region 8-AA) lost an overtime game, as the Lady Trojans won 57-54. Jaycie Bowen led the Lady Leopards with 16 points, 10 of which came in the first half. Taylor Parson followed Bowen with 15 points. Parson led the Lady Leopards in the fourth quarter, scoring 11 points, includ ing three free throws down the stretch, to help send the game into overtime. Maddie Thomas contributed nine points, including four of the team’s five overtime points. “We felt good at halftime,” head coach Steven Shedd said. The Lady Leopards led at halftime 27-23. “We felt like we were in control of the game. We felt like, really, it hasn’t happened very often this season where we felt like we had played a com plete first half. We felt like we had played a complete first half. We felt good. Tried to tell girls, ‘Let’s not panic. We have control of the game.’” Shedd credited the Lady Trojans with changing things up defensively, because what was working in the first half didn’t work as well in the second half. He also credited them with their speed and outside shooting. He called them a “matchup prob lem” for his team. “I really think it was all their heads, real ly,” Shedd said. With the time winding down in a tight game, Shedd felt the team started playing not to lose instead of playing to win. He added that too many turnovers, miss ing key shots and fouling the wrong players down the stretch contributed to the loss. “It’s one of those situations where I told the girls, ‘Listen, this is a team loss. We’ll take a team win and we’ll take a team loss,’” Shedd said. “’It’s no one person’s fault. This is a team loss.’” The Lady Leopards jumped out to a 13-10 lead after the first quarter. Six players scored in the opening quarter: Bowen, Thomas, Parson, Gabby Kennedy, Melinda Garrison and Amber Williams. The Lady Leopards’ lead extended in the second quarter to as much as seven points, and the team led 27-23 at halftime. The game tightened in the third quarter as the Lady Trojans used an 8-3 run to cut the Lady Leopards’ lead to 34-33 entering the fourth. As quickly as the game tightened, it quick ly went back to the Lady Leopards in com mand, spurred by a 12-5 run to open the final quarter. The Lady Trojans answered with a 7-1 run to cut the lead to two points, 47-45. The Lady Trojans took their first lead with 1:09 left in the game, hitting a 3-pointer to take a 48-47 lead. Five seconds later, Parson put the Lady Leopards back ahead at 49-48, hitting two free throws. The Lady Trojans hit one free throw down the stretch to tie the game and send it to overtime at 49-49. In overtime, the Lady Trojans outscored the Lady Leopards 8-5. The Lady Leopards trailed by one point with 15.4 seconds left, but the Lady Trojans hit two free throws to set the lead at three points. A final 3-point attempt by Thomas missed to end the game. Despite the loss, Shedd is still encour aged by what he saw from his team, which is down two key players as it nears region play. “There were a lot of good things that happened out there today,” he said. “Even though, sometimes, it’s easy to dwell on the bad, and some of the things we did wrong at the end, but there were a lot of good things that happened in the game today. A lot of things that weren’t going on that we feel like now we can be encouraged by. Try not to focus on the negative completely. It was really all good until the last 2:30 of the game.” The team picked up a 45-41 win last Wednesday over Apalachee. Banks County travels to Marianna, Fla., this week to play against Graceville and Marianna.