Despite entering the post season with high hopes, the Lady Dragons of Jefferson saw their region tournament play come to an end Saturday, as they fell to Fannin County in the opening game of the region tournament.
Friday’s game opened with the Lady Dragons taking an early advantage, moving out to a 9-5 lead by the end of the first quarter. Jefferson would increase their lead to six points in the second quarter, as they moved out to a 15-9 lead by the end of the half.
Coach Jason Gibson said that had things gone better offensively, the lead would have been greater.
“As well as we played defensively, we played equally bad offensively in terms of shooting the basketball,” he said. “We missed so many shots. Some of that credit needs to go to Fannin County. They played hard nosed man-to-man defense. They make it tough on you.
“On the defensive end, we got great looks, we got all the shots that we wanted to get, but we just didn’t make the ones that we normally make.”
In the second half, things didn’t go as well for the Lady Dragons.
Fannin made a run, and made the game close again early in the third.
From that point on, the game was back and forth. Fannin led by two at the end of the quarter, but nobody led by more than that margin for most of the rest of the game.
The Lady Dragons led 27-26 late, but Fannin made some free throws down the stretch to push ahead late and win 32-29.
“To our kids’ credit, in terms of defensive intensity and offensive execution, our kids played great,” Gibson said. “They did all that anybody could ask them to do. I thought we out hustled them, I thought we were more physical. I thought mentally, we were more focused. We were by far the better team that night. We were just a few plays short of pulling out the win.”
Skylar Evanson led Jefferson in scoring with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Rachel Goza scored eight points on the night.
For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Jackson Herald.
