The fourth quarter has been the nemesis of Dawson County Lady Tiger basketball over the last few games.
Trailing 39-33 to East Jackson (6-17) last Wednesday at the Ford E. Phillips Gymnasium, the Lady Tigers offense came to a halt.
East outscored Dawson 21-9 in the fourth quarter to pick up a 60-42 Region 8-AA win over Head Coach Steve Sweat’s team.
The Lady Tigers are stumbling into the region tournament after having lost seven consecutive games. All of the losses have been to region opponents.
The Lady Tigers are currently 10-11 overall, and 3-7 in region play.
“The fourth quarter has really killed us the last few games,” said Sweat. “Our defense is giving up too many points and we are not scoring any points.”
It was an offensive slugfest in the first quarter against East Jackson, both teams scored at will. The Lady Eagles led 20-15 after one quarter of play.
Defense by both teams picked up in the second quarter. Dawson outscored East Jackson 10-8 and trailed by a slim 28-25 score at halftime.
The third quarter was even, both teams played decent defense. Then the dreaded fourth quarter hit Dawson County again, leading to the loss.
Morgan Bennett was the only Lady Tiger to score in double digits. She contributed 10 points. Christian Daniel and Carly Gilreath contributed seven points each, Judith Hall added three points, Jessi Phillips, Nikki Dean and Allie Costley also had three points apiece, while Hannah Porter and Kenna Seitz added two points each.
The Lady Tigers were to play Rabun County, 20-1, in their final region game Monday. Scores were not available as of press time.
Earlier this season, Dawson lost to a very talented Lady Wildcat team, 77-49. Rabun is currently ranked #4 in the Coaches Poll.
The Region tournament is also slated to begin this week with the first round to be played at Dawson County High School. Complete schedules were not available as of press time.
If the season ended Monday afternoon, the Lady Tigers would play Oglethorpe County in a play-in game. Dawson defeated Oglethorpe (0-20) 64-5 in a meeting earlier this season. The winner will play #9-ranked North Oconee (20-3) in the second round.
Last Tuesday, Feb. 9, Dawson traveled to Blue Ridge to face a strong Fannin County team. The Lady Rebels are currently in first place in Region 8-AA (A) with a 9-1 region record and an 18-3 overall record.
The Lady Rebels were victorious and came away with a 45-33 win.
Fannin led throughout the game to take the 12-point victory.
“It was a low scoring game,” said Sweat. “We have got to cut down on turnovers and make the shots we are supposed to make. We had the lead down to two points in the second half, but could not take the lead. We have got to play better defense.”
Jessi Phillips led all Lady Tigers with 11 points. Phillips connected on three 3-point shots. Carly Gilreath added nine points for Dawson County. Kenna Seitz had a big night on the boards with nine rebounds. Seitz also scored eight points.