Lady Tigers prevail on Senior Night

The Tigers went up 14-7 in the first quarter and held off the Paladins’ offense until a late charge in the fourth.

After several Tiger turnovers, Pinecrest fought back from a seven-point deficit to tie the game at 44-44.

With less than a minute remaining, Lily Mather hit a free throw to put the Tigers up by one (45-44). Commerce then forced a Pinecrest turnover with time ticking away.
With eleven seconds left in the game, senior Tiger Madison Maddox hit two free throws to seal a Commerce victory.

“I thought we played fairly well,” said Tiger head Coach Rex Gregg. “In the fourth quarter, we made some bad decisions – took a bad shot. But overall, it was a great win.”

Gregg praised the play of Hannah Davis and Lily Mather. Davis had 14 points and eight rebounds. Mather had 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Gregg also noted the clutch performance of Madison Maddox.

“(Maddox) hit a big three and scored five points to clinch the game,” said Gregg. “It was good to see a senior do that on Senior Night.”

The win against Pinecrest closed out a 6-18 regular season for the Lady Tigers. Despite their record, Gregg believes his Lady Tigers have made loads of progress since the start of the season.

“I think they’ve really improved in this last year,” he said. “It hasn’t showed as much in the win column, but you can see that we are able to execute better.”

Today (Wednesday), the Tigers will match up against Providence Christian in the region tournament at Towns County High School.

The Tigers fell to the Storm 32-27 earlier this season.

Although Providence is 16-8 on the season, Gregg feels his squad has a pretty good chance for an upset if the Tiger offense plays well.

“They aren’t going to score a lot of points,” said Gregg. “The key to beating them is taking care of the ball and making shots.”

Tipoff is at 4:00 p.m.

On Tuesday, Feb. 5, the Lady Tigers were overwhelmed by Towns County, 69-27.

Bridget Barnett led scoring with nine points.

Last Thursday, the Tigers fell to Hebron Christian 61-43.

Lily Mather scored a career-high 18 points and added 12 rebounds. Hannah McRee added 10 points.