The Commerce Lady Tigers tacked on one more win to their tally as they closed the regular season last week.
After falling earlier in the week to Towns County, the Lady Tigers rebounded with a Senior Night victory over Tallulah Falls Friday.
That left Commerce 5-8 in the region (8-13) overall and 4-2 in the subregion, which has them seeded number two in 8A north.
Now Commerce advances to the postseason and its region tournament opener tonight (Wednesday) where it will face Prince Avenue at home.
The Lady Wolverines ended the season as the number two team in 8A-A with a 10-4 region record (18-4 overall). A loss to Hebron Christian Academy in the final regular season game last week ended a four-game winning streak that dated back to Feb. 1.
In their only meeting of the season, Prince Avenue bested Commerce 49-34 on Jan. 22.
A win on Wednesday would qualify the Lady Tigers for the state tournament and allow them to move on to the region tournament finals at Athens Christian Friday and Saturday.
“This is the best chance we have had for advancing in the four years I have been at Commerce,” said coach Eddie McCurley. “We have improved and have been playing well toward the end of this season. We played Prince once this season, losing 49-34. It was a close game up until midway through the fourth quarter. We were down five at the end of the third. They have played here already, so I don’t think there will be a huge home-court advantage, maybe a little.”
As far as who the pressure will be on between the two teams, McCurley said he’s not sure.
“We really don’t have anything to lose because we haven’t advanced in a while,” he said. “I hope we play hard and loose. That’s what makes tournament time so much fun, at least for the winner.”
Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
It was also a big week for several of the individual Lady Tigers. Jaz Grier was named the Region 8A player of the year, while Lily Mather received an All-Region honorable mention.
Towns County
On Tuesday, the Lady Tigers traveled to Towns County to face the Lady Indians.
The Tigers got off to a slow start and trailed 41-27 at the half, and then things got worse as the Indians put on a 44-13 run in the second half to win easily, 85-40.
Jaz Grier led the Tiger offense with 20 points, followed by Hannah Davis and Allie Morgan with eight points each.
“Believe or not we played much better this time around than when we lost to them earlier,” McCurley said. “We just ran into a team that is much better than we are right now.”
Tallulah Falls
On Friday, Commerce rounded out the regular season by hosting Tallulah Falls.
The Lady Tigers assumed command early on, jumping out to a 28-5 lead at the half.
They added 29 points to that in the second half while holding Tallulah Falls to just 12 points to earn a 57-17 victory on Senior Night.
For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Commerce News.
