It was another up and down week for the Jefferson Lady Dragons, as their first region win of the year against Oglethorpe County was sandwiched between losses to Walnut Grove and Union County.
Up next for the Lady Dragons is a game as important for bragging rights as it is for its affect on their region standings, as they play host to the Lady Eagles of East Jackson on Friday.
The Lady Eagles enter play this week looking for their first region win of the season, and with a 2-12 overall record.
Jefferson has come away the winner in the last two pairings between the two, winning 46-28 on Feb. 7 of last year and 52-40 on Jan. 23 of last year.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Walnut Grove
Coming off of a big win over Commerce the previous Saturday, the Lady Dragons of Jefferson were looking for their first region victory of the season last Tuesday when they played host to the Lady Warriors of Walnut Grove.
Walnut Grove came out strong, gutting Jefferson’s press for the first few minutes of the game. At one point, the Lady Warriors held a 17-7 advantage. Jefferson closed the gap a little before the end of the quarter to make it 17-10.
A change in strategy in the second quarter seemed to help Jefferson’s efforts as they outscored Walnut Grove 17-16 to cut the lead to 33-27 at the half.
Despite the strong second quarter, the Lady Dragons didn’t fare as well in the second half of the game, struggling to make open shots. In the end, Jefferson came up short, losing 60-47.
Erin Knight led in scoring with 16 points on the night. Skylar Evanson, Stephanie Fincher and Rachel Goza each scored eight points against Walnut Grove.
“That game was really more about our lack of defense, I felt like,” said coach Jason Gibson. “We scored 47 points, which is enough to win if you play any defense at all. We just didn’t come up with enough defensive stops to make it a game. Walnut Grove is a good team. We’ll have to go back and work on some things before we play them again.”
Oglethorpe Co.
Next for the Lady Dragons was a trip to Lexington to face the Oglethorpe County Lady Patriots on Friday.
Jefferson took control early, holding Oglethorpe to only four points in the first quarter to take a 20-4 lead at the end of the quarter. They would go on to allow the Lady Patriots only one point in the second quarter while Jefferson added another 21 points to their tally, making it a 41-5 advantage at the half.
The Lady Dragons would continue to control the game in the second half, holding the Lady Patriots to 11 points to take a 50-16 win, their first region victory of the season.
Erin Knight led in scoring with 14 points. Bethany Whitlock scored eight.
“We wanted to try to accomplish a couple of things while we were down there,” Gibson said. “One was working defensively on being in the right spot, not allowing penetration, working on our pressure and working on our trap. Just really trying to work on creating some offense from our defense and some easy baskets off of our pressure. We were able to do that against Oglethorpe.”
Union County
Looking again to try to build momentum from Tuesday’s win, the Lady Dragons played host to Union County on Saturday.
After a sluggish first quarter that saw the Lady Panthers take an early lead, the Lady Dragons got fired up in the second quarter. Despite having foul trouble that led to substitutions, Jefferson was able to make it a nine-point ball game by the end of the second quarter, as Union County led 31-22 at the half.
The Jefferson defense stepped up in the third quarter, and by the end, found themselves down by only six points, 37-31.
With a minute left in the game, the Lady Dragons were down by five points. A three-pointer by Skylar Evanson made it only a two-point deficit, and with 44 seconds left on the clock, the Lady Dragons tied the game at 44-44.
But a foul call gave Union County an opening to retake the lead. The Lady Panthers were able to put three more points on the board after that, and came away with a five-point victory, 49-44.
Stephanie Fincher led in scoring with 13 points. Stephanie Whitlock scored eight.
For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Jackson Herald.
