Lady Dragons face Oconee Co. Friday

On Friday, the Jefferson girls will travel to Oconee County to face the Lady Warriors. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

The Lady Dragons had originally been scheduled to face Commerce on that night, but that game has been rescheduled to Jan. 9.

Last Wednesday, the Lady Dragons faced off against Central Gwinnett in round two of play in the Tabo’s Tip-Off Tournament.

Jefferson got off to a slow start against the Lady Knights, as they found themselves down by 15 at the half.

“We had a hard time matching up with their quickness and they beat us in transition to score some easy baskets early,” said coach Jason Gibson. “We also gave them too many points from the free throw line, as 14 of their 31 points at the half came from free throws.”

After making some adjustments at the half, the Lady Dragons came out and played well. They went on a 16-0 run to trail by four points with around six minutes left in the game. Both teams went back and forth, but some successful free throws by Central Gwinnett sealed the 48-38 victory.

Stephanie Fincher led Jefferson with 15 points and seven rebounds. Erin Knight and Skylar Evanson both scored seven points.

“It was a great effort by our kids and we showed some improvement in several areas,” Gibson said. “I was pleased with our ability to handle their pressure and I thought our second half defense was the difference in the game.”

Next up was a Saturday pairing against the Lady Bulldoggs of Winder-Barrow.

“We had talked about the importance of getting off to a good start against a very good Winder team, especially since we had not in our first two games,” Gibson said. “We felt like that would be important for us.”

Jefferson came out and took an early lead, but found themselves down by one, 13-12 at the end of the fist quarter.

The second quarter made the difference in the game, as the Lady Dragons had trouble scoring, and found themselves down by 10 at the half.

Jefferson came back to life in the second half, as things went back and forth between the two teams. Late in the fourth quarter, the Lady Dragons had a chance to cut the lead to four points, but came up short on five straight possessions. Winder-Barrow would stretch their lead again, and came away with a 51-37 victory.

Rachal Goza led Jefferson in scoring with 11 points. Stephanie Fincher scored eight and Skylar Evanson scored six.

For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Jackson Herald.