The Jefferson Lady Dragons were hoping to build some momentum off of a decisive victory last week over Commerce.
But that momentum swung in the other direction, unfortunately, as the Lady Dragons lost back-to-back games to East Hall on Tuesday, and to Union County on Friday.
After a short break for the holidays, Jefferson will travel this Saturday to Oconee County to begin play in the Warrior Holiday Classic.
Their first pairing in the event promises to be a tough one, as they’ll face the Smokey Bears from Sevier County, Tenn. Sevier County is ranked in the top ten in AAA in Tennessee.
Tip-off in that game is scheduled for 4 p.m.
Fresh off of their Dec. 12 victory over Commerce, the Lady Dragons faced off against the Lady Vikings of East Hall last Tuesday. East Hall entered the game with a 3-2 record, but was fresh off a loss to Gainesville.
Despite this, the Lady Vikings took control early, and had a 28-10 lead by the half as the Lady Dragons went 2-17 from the floor with ten missed lay-ups in the half.
Things didn’t get much better in the second half of the game, as East Hall went on to win 59-33.
In all the Lady Dragons had 31 turnovers, and were 3-6 from the free throw line.
“We did not play very well against East Hall,” said coach Jason Gibson. “A lot of the turnovers were due to East Hall’s pressure. But the missed lay-ups and the missed free throws…that was us.”
Emily Jacobs led Jefferson in scoring with 10 points and eight rebounds. Freshman Skylar Evanson scored eight points, while Marcayla Hester had six rebounds.
“Defensively, we didn’t play terrible against them,” Gibson said. “But offensively, we didn’t make enough shots to give ourselves a shot to win the basketball game.”
The Lady Dragons traveled to Blairsville on Friday for their next game, a region match-up with the Lady Panthers of Union County.
While it was still a loss, this game was a close contest between the two teams.
The Lady Dragons found themselves up by 12 points at the half. But in the second half, Jefferson just couldn’t seem to get going, as they missed lay-ups and open 15-footers, giving the Lady Panthers the opening they needed to storm back.
Union County took their first lead with only three minutes remaining in the game. The score would go back and forth until the 45 second mark, when Jefferson scored, and they were fouled after being down by four.
Jefferson missed their free throws, however, and after being fouled, Union County made their foul shots to seal the game up, 33-27.
Junior Erin Knight led the Lady Dragons in scoring with nine points, while Callie Holloway scored eight and Hester scored six.
“The kids played really hard,” Gibson said. “Union has what I would say is one of the best guards in the region. We held her to three points at half time, and had held them to five points in the half. But we couldn’t make enough shots in the second half to hold on.
“You can play great defense, but if you don’t score some, you’re going to have a hard time holding on to win games. That’s what happened to us at Union County.”
Gibson said Saturday’s game against Sevier County should prove to be a good test for his team.
“Hopefully we can make some improvements.”
