Coach Steve Sweat's Dawson County High School varsity girls basketball team picked up a fourth place finish in the Battle of the States tournament at Towns County High School in Hiawassee last week.
The Lady Tigers took a 66-48 win over Murphy, N.C. in the opening game of the tournament on Dec. 27.
"It was great to be able to start off the tournament on a good note with a win over Murphy High," Sweat said. "It was the biggest team we have played this year. They started four girls over 6 feet tall. We were able to press them, run on them and we shot the ball very good."
Dawson County held a 38-24 halftime lead over Murphy behind the play of junior guard Carly Gilreath.
Gilreath led the Lady Tigers with 16 points and 3 steals to spark the team.
Sweat's team extended its lead to 52-39 after three quarters and held on to take the 18 points win.
Allie Costley also scored in double digits for Dawson County with 12 points.
Lady Tigers scorers: Carly Gilreath - 16 points; Allie Costley - 12 points; Hannah Porter - 9 points; Morgan Huber - 7 points; Ashley Parker - 6 points; Kacie Bearden - 5 points; Sheyenne Seabolt - 5 points; Kenna Seitz - 4 points and Kimberly Wallace - 2 points.
The Lady Tigers were then matched up with Region 8A-AA foe Union County on Dec. 28.
Dawson trailed by a single point, 18-17, after one quarter but the Lady Panthers extended their lead to 34-28 by halftime
The third quarter proved to be the downfall of Dawson County as Union outscored Sweat's team 19-8 to take a commanding 53-36 lead. It was too much for the Lady Tigers to overcome as the team fell 63-47.
"We never could get going in the second half. Our shooting was off tonight. We had plenty of shots but only could make 18 out of 61 from the floor. On a positive note we did have seven players score, but none were in double figures," Sweat said.
Costley had a big night on the boards. She pulled down 11 rebounds. Costley also scored 9 points in the game.
Lady Tigers scorers: Allie Costley - 9 points; Carly Gilreath - 9 points; Sheyenne Seabolt - 8 points; Hannah Porter - 6 points; Kacie Bearden - 6 points; Morgan Huber - 5 points and Kenna Seitz - 4 points.
In the consolation game Dawson County was paired with Towns County, the host school. It was the third match up of the year between the two teams.
The Lady Tigers lost the first two contests with the Lady Indians, 76-66 and 76-46. The third game was a lot closer but with the same result as Dawson lost 68-57.
Dawson County came away from the tournament with a fourth place finish.
"Towns jumped on us in the first half and held a 13 point lead at halftime. We came out and played a really good third quarter and got it to three points. Towns then connected on 14 of 16 free throws in the fourth quarter to win the game," Sweat said.
Freshman post player Sheyenne Seabolt had a great game for the Lady Tigers. She contributed 16 points and pulled down eight rebounds in the effort.
Gilreath scored 13 points and pulled down eight rebounds. She also had four assists for the game.
Lady Tigers scorers: Sheyenne Seabolt - 16 points; Carly Gilreath - 13 points; Allie Costley - 8 points; Kacie Bearden - 6 points; Kenna Seitz - 6 points; Ashley Parker - 4 points; Kimberly Wallace - 2 points and Whitney Glover - 2 points.
Carly Gilreath was named to the All-Tournament team. Gilreath averaged 12.7 points per game for the tournament. She scored a total of 38 total points in three games for the Lady Tigers.
The Lady Tigers will play their first Region 8A-AA game Friday at home against Rabun County. The Lady Wildcats come into the contest with an impressive 13-0 record and a #3 ranking in Class AA.
Tip-off will be at 7 p.m.
Dawson County will then travel to Dahlonega on Saturday for a 3 p.m. game with Lumpkin County. Earlier this season the Lady Tigers defeated Lumpkin 54-37 in Dawsonville.