JEFFERSON’S GIRLS continue their fight for the 8-AA South subregion lead with January now halfway over, setting up a intriguing run from now until postseason time.
The second-place Lady Dragons (11-5, 4-1), as expected, whipped overmatched Oglethorpe County (0-14) with ease Tuesday night, 71-10, as they remain in the hunt for the subregion title. Jefferson has now won five-straight games.
“We’ve always preached to our kids that we want to be playing our best basketball down the stretch,” coach Jason Gibson said.
Jefferson is a half-game behind first-place Elbert County in the subregion standings, but the Lady Dragons have two chances to takedown the Lady Blue Devils between now and the region tournament.
With the Oglethorpe County contest out of the way, the games will get much tougher between now and the regular season finale Feb. 11.
The Lady Dragons, who play non-region foe Flowery Branch Saturday, have a huge Tuesday subregion tilt with North Oconee (11-3), which has just one loss in 8-AA South play and is tied with Jefferson for second place.
Jefferson’s remaining subregion schedule comprises Hart County (Jan. 28), the two games with Elbert County (Jan. 29 and Feb. 4), two more with East Jackson (Feb. 5 and Feb. 8) and a much-anticipated matchup with cross-town rival Jackson County (Feb. 11).
When the dust settles, Jefferson hopes to be carrying a no. 1 seed into the Region 8-A tournament.
Jefferson’s victory over Oglethorpe County was its second in 11 days. The Lady Dragons beat the Lady Patriots 71-15 on Jan. 7.
Jefferson got nine points each from Rachel Goza and Skylar Evanson (who tied a school record for steals in a game with 11 in the Jan. 7 meeting with the two teams) to lead the team offensively. Kellie Goza, Jakeia Wilson and Sarah Wood each added seven points.
Jefferson led 33-0 after a quarter and 51-4 at the half.
The Lady Dragons’ junior varsity players played the whole second half.
“Our approach to the game last night was that we wanted to come out and get our feet back under us,” coach Jason Gibson said. “We hadn’t played in 10 days … We wanted to play hard and work on what we do.”
Now the team gears up for a huge nine-game stretch to end the regular season, seven of which are subregion games.
Jason Gibson said his team has won a combined 23 games after Christmas the last two years and hopes this team follow that trend of peaking at the right time.
“I hope our kids will continue that tradition this year,” he said. “We want to play our best basketball game in the region tournament.”
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