If you are grasping for something positive from the Commerce High girls’ first contest against Jefferson, you better look to the following night, the Lady Tigers’ coach said.
The team came back from a demoralizing loss to its rival last Friday with a convincing 45-21 win over Oglethorpe County the next day.
Coach Rex Gregg nodded to his team’s solid fundamental play, including a seven-for-nine performance from the foul line as well as his players’ dominant fourth quarter against the Patriots. The Tigers outscored Oglethorpe 21-6 in the final period to secure what Gregg termed as a key psychological coup after the Jefferson drubbing.
“It was a good win given the fact how we got beat on Friday,” Gregg said. “Getting beat the way we did was discouraging. So coming back was very encouraging.”
On Friday, Commerce’s game lacked in every area as the Tigers lost 56-13 to the Dragons. While Jefferson shot a less-than-stellar 30 percent from the field, Commerce statistics proved worse.
The Tigers made six of 32 shots from the field and turned the ball over 33 times, nearly twice the turnovers registered by the Dragons.
“That’s the difference in the game right there,” Gregg said. “There weren’t any positives. It was poor shooting, poor ball handling, there’s just nothing good to say about that game.”
The outcome surprised the coach who had hoped the Tigers’ win against then-undefeated Athens Academy last Tuesday would motivate the players to overcome any hang-ups with Jefferson.
“I thought winning against Athens Academy would boost them a little bit,” he said. “But they have to let the momentum carry on to the next game.
They’ve been getting beat so bad by Jefferson for so long… We need to get them where they think they can compete against anybody.”
Against Athens Academy last Tuesday, Commerce was steady at the foul line (64 percent) in the final minutes of play especially. Allie Morgan led the seven Tigers’ scorers with 13 points. Lily Mather grabbed 16 rebounds.
“Lily has been rebounding pretty well,” Gregg said, “She gets good positioning.”
The team’s next contest is Saturday at Lakeview Academy (4-5, 0-2).
To prepare, the Tigers (3-3, 1-0) relaxed a bit this week, taking Monday off and mostly shooting on Tuesday since both basketball teams planned to take team portraits.
“It’s a work in progress,” Gregg said. “You just hope you build on things that you did pretty well.”
This week
Sat., Dec. 17 at Lakeview Academy, 4 p.m.
Last week’s scores
Tuesday, Dec. 6
Commerce 47, Athens Academy 34
Scorers — Bridget Barnett 3, Hannah Davis 7, Madison Maddox 7, Lily Mather 6, Drea Mathis 5, Hannah McRee 3, Allie Morgan 13. Rebounds — Davis 8, Mather 16.
Friday, Dec. 9
Jefferson 56, Commerce 13
Scorers — Morgan 4, Maddox 4, Davis 2, Martin 3.
Saturday, Dec. 10
Commerce 45, Oglethorpe Co. 21
The stats — Mathis 12 points, 4 assists, 4 steals; Davis 9 points, 3 rebounds; Mather 7 points, 14 rebounds; Barnett 4 points, Morgan 3 points, Greene 3 points, 5 rebounds; Maddox 3 points; Crumley 2 points; Martin 2 points.
