JEFFERSON handled its biggest out-of-region rival easily Friday before losing its subregion opener Tuesday.
The Lady Dragons reeled off the first 21 points of its Friday game against Commerce and coasted the rest of the way in a 56-13 demolition of the rival Lady Tigers.
The 43-point margin of victory in Friday’s victory surprised coach Jason Gibson a little bit.
“I did not expect the game to go like that,” he said. “I think Commerce is better than they played tonight (Friday). Their kids played hard. I have a lot of respect for coach (Rex) Gregg.”
Jefferson’s Skylar Evanson scored 21 points and Brianna Whatley added 10.
The Lady Dragons shutout Commerce in the first quarter and scored the first eight points of the second quarter to build a 21-0 lead in what was a first half of dominance.
Jefferson, which pressed Commerce into numerous turnovers, allowed just five first-half points and then led 47-9 after three quarters.
“Our kids were excited and they worked hard,” Gibson said. “And when the game did kind of get a little bit out of hand, give credit to our kids for continuing to play hard.”
Commerce didn’t reach double figures until 4:53 left in the game.
“I was pleased with the way our kids played,” Gibson said. “We rebounded the ball well tonight. We did a good job taking care of it. I thought we played well in transition which is something that we’ve been really working hard on. I felt that we didn’t shoot the ball really good overall as a team. But I thought we really did a good job on the offensive boards.”
The Lady Dragons then fell to North Oconee 50-43 Tuesday as 8-AA South play started.
Evanson led Jefferson with 12 points while Sarah Wood added six.
