It was a tough week for Commerce’s Lady Tigers, as they dropped games to Athens Christian, Athens Academy and Prince Avenue Christian, leaving them 1-5 in region play and 3-10 overall.
They’ll travel to Dacula Friday to face the Lady Lions of Hebron Christian Academy.
Hebron comes in fresh off a 62-36 loss to Towns County. The Lions are 3-2 in the region and 5-7 overall.
In their most recent meeting, in January of 2010, the Lions came away with a 53-29 victory.
Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Athens Christian
The Lady Tigers hosted Athens Christian Tuesday, Jan. 18.
Commerce gained the upper hand in the second quarter and controlled the court for most of the game as Athens Christian tried to find an answer for the Lady Tigers’ defense. With just over two minutes remaining, Commerce held a two-point advantage. But the Lady Tigers found themselves in a scoring drought, getting only two points in that amount of time. That provided the Lady Eagles with an opening that enabled them to win, 35-30.
Jaz Grier led in scoring with 14 points, followed by Vanessa Chandler with seven, Erica Greene with three and Hanna Davis, Madison Maddox and Lily Mather scoring two each.
“We had (Athens Christian) on the ropes and we let them escape,” said coach Eddie McCurley. “Our weakness right now is free throws-not making them, but shooting enough free throws. We are not aggressive enough on offense in drawing fouls. If we go to the free throw line more we could have won all three games last week.”
Athens Academy
Next up was a trip to Athens Academy.
Despite having 21 turnovers, Commerce trailed by just two points at the half. But Athens Academy took control of the game in the fourth quarter, putting the game out of reach and taking the 39-29 victory.
Drea Mathis and Mather led in scoring with eight points each. Grier added six.
“Obviously, we are having trouble scoring, especially in the second half,” McCurley said. “It’s not because of fatigue, we are in good shape. They run the floor and play hard the entire 32 minutes. I am not quite sure what it is, but we may stop going to the locker room at half. It seems to hurt our momentum.”
Prince Avenue
Saturday saw a return home for the Lady Tigers, as they hosted Prince Avenue Christian.
Prince jumped out to an early 14-2 lead after going 5-of-8 from the field. By the end of the first, the Lady Tigers found themselves trailing 19-11.
With Grier coming off the bench in the second quarter and scoring 12 points, Commerce climbed to within two points, 32-30, at the half.
Then Commerce went cold, failing to score in the third quarter. The Lady Tigers’ defense kept them in the game by holding Prince Avenue to just three points, making the score 35-30 at the end of the third. The game remained close for much of the fourth quarter, but the Lady Wolverines pulled away down the stretch for the 49-34 victory.
Grier scored 18 points, followed by Vanessa Chandler with 12 and Mathis with four.
For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Commerce News.
