Last week didn't start well for Head Coach Steve Sweat's Dawson County High School varsity girls basketball team, after losing to North Hall on Feb. 4, 66-49. However, the team rebounded with two big wins over West Hall, 42-35, on Feb. 7 and Banks County, 55-51 on Saturday.
Dawson County will be going into this week's Region 7-AAA tournament as the No. 4 seed.
Despite getting 24 points from Ashley Parker and 19 points from Sheyenne Seabolt, the Lady Tigers dropped a 17-point decision to North Hall Feb. 4 in Gainesville.
North Hall used a huge first quarter to establish a 26-13 lead that Dawson County was unable to recover from.
Lady Trojan, Sydney Cleveland had a double-double with 18 points and 15 rebounds. Kelli Gillespie scored 16 points for North Hall (17-8; 9-5) in the win.
"We got behind early and could not get any closer than 11 points," Sweat said.
Jordan Moore scored four points and Karlie Bearden scored two points in the loss.
Dawson County recovered on Friday night to take a tough 42-35 win over West Hall (8-16; 2-12). The game was interesting with the Lady Spartans using a stall offense and holding the basketball.
West Hall managed just 11 points by halftime using the tactic as Dawson County built a 23-11 halftime lead.
The Lady Spartans did more of the same in the third quarter, holding the ball. Both teams only managed 12 combined points, five for the Lady Tigers and seven for the Lady Spartans.
Both offenses opened up in the final quarter with West Hall outscoring the Lady Tigers, 17-14, but it wasn't enough with Dawson County winning by seven points.
"This was a much needed victory over West Hall tonight to get back in the win column," Sweat said. "We played well enough to win and that is all that matters. Our scoring was low because they held the ball."
Bearden and Seabolt led the Lady Tigers in scoring with 13 points each. Parker added nine points, Haley Burgess had five points and Katelynn Simpson had two points. It was the first varsity points of Simpson's career.
It was Senior Night on Saturday in Dawsonville. Coach Sweat paid tribute to his two seniors: Madison Shope and Alison Honea, following the boys game.
More importantly, Dawson County avenged an earlier season loss to the Lady Leopards, 58-46, by jumping out to an early 16-8 lead. Even though the Lady Tigers were outscored each of the last three quarters they held on to take the four point win.
"Wow. We were finally able to get the monkey off our back. The Lady Tigers were able to play a solid game tonight," Sweat said.
Dawson County was on a three game losing streak to the Lady Leopards until Saturday night.
Parker had a big night on offense with 20 points. Sophomore Burgess also scored in double digits with 14 points in the win. Finishing out the scoring for Dawson County were: Seabolt - 12 points, Moore scored five points, Bearden and Erin Chatham contributed with two points each.
Dawson County finished the regular season with a 17-8 record. The Lady Tigers finished 8-6 in Region 7-AAA play.
The Lady Tigers were scheduled to play Fannin County at Buford High School at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. Results were not available as of press time. There was also bad weather forecast that could play a role in the region tournament.