The Lady Tigers broke a four-game losing streak with a thrilling 46-44 on the road win over Gilmer County (4-12) Saturday.

Dawson had to fight back from a 24-16 deficit at halftime. The Lady Tigers had a strong third quarter offensively and outscored the Lady Bobcats 13-6 to cut Gilmer’s lead to one, 30-29.

The Lady Tigers continued their improved play in the final quarter to pull out the 2-point win.

Jessi Phillips led the Tigers offensively with 15 points. Also scoring for Dawson were: Carly Gilreath-9 points, Allie Costley-7 points, Natalie Parker-6 points, Kenna Seitz-5 points, Morgan Bennett-3 points and Kimberly Wallace scored 1 point.

Earlier in the week, Head Coach Steve Sweat’s team battled two Region 8-AA opponents. Both games were close, but the Lady Tigers came out on the short end with two home losses to East Hall, 49-45, and Union County, 60-54.

East Hall (9-8, 2-1) jumped out to a 36-28 lead after three quarters of play against the Lady Tigers on Wednesday.

Dawson fought back in the fourth quarter and outscored the Lady Vikings 17-13, but it wasn’t enough as the Lady Tigers lost by 4 points.

“It was a hard fought battle against a quality team,” Sweat said. “We improved in several areas, like rebounding, free throw shooting and our defense was good enough to hold them under 50 points, but we missed too many easy shots. To beat East Hall you have to make those high percentage shots.”

Allie Costley and Carly Gilreath, both sophomores, scored in double digits. Both contributed 11 points. Costley was 6-for-6 from the free throw line and nailed a 3-point shot.

Kenna Seitz added 7 points, Hannah Porter and Natalie Parker scored 4 points each, and Kimberly Wallace had 2 points, Morgan Bennett and Morgan Huber each added 3 points.

Costley and Gilreath had big offensive nights for the Lady Tigers again on Friday versus region foe Union County. Costley scored 17 and Gilreath netted 14 points, but it wasn’t enough as Dawson dropped the game 60-54.

Both teams scored in double digits in each quarter.

Unfortunately, the visiting Lady Panthers outscored Dawson in each quarter to lead 49-39 after three quarters of play.

The Lady Tigers roared back in the fourth quarter and scored 15 points to Union’s 11 points, but it was a little too late.

“It was a good game,” Sweat said. “We were down by 10 points at the end of three and were able to battle back to take the lead in the fourth quarter by one point. We just could not hold the lead down the stretch and lost by six.”

Also scoring for Dawson were: Parker-8 points, Bennett-6 points, Phillips-3 points, Wallace, Seitz and Hannah Porter contributed 2 points each.

The Lady Tigers are currently 9-8 overall and 0-4 in Region 8-AA play.

Dawson will travel to East Hall on Friday for a 7 p.m. start and will host Fannin County Feb. 1 with a 6 p.m. tip-off.