It comes down to win or the season comes to an end for the Dawson County Lady Tiger basketball team.

Head Coach Steve Sweat’s group has shown some improvement over the last two weeks as they prepare for the Region 8-AA Tournament.

“At this point it is win or go home,” remarked Sweat.

The Lady Tigers play against North Oconee, the No. 1-seed from Region 8-AA (B) today. North Oconee came into the contest with a 17-8 record.

Dawson didn’t have much luck this past week, as the team lost to Fannin County, 46-33, on Tuesday, before dropping a 63-40 decision to Rabun County last Friday. With the two losses, the Lady Tigers are 4-19 on the season and 2-6 in region play.

Dawson County High School celebrated senior night last Tuesday. But for the Lady Tigers it didn’t matter, as there are no seniors on this year’s roster.

Sophomore Jessi Phillips led the offensive attack against the Lady Rebels.

Phillips scored a game-high 13 points and she also pulled down four rebounds in the loss.

Tuesday’s game was a lot better than the first time the two teams squared off. Fannin defeated Sweat’s team 39-12 in mid-January.

“We played them a little better tonight than we did at their place,” said Sweat.

Dawson fell behind early, as Fannin jumped out to a quick 12-3 lead after one quarter behind their offensive star Stephanie Anderson.

Anderson finished the night with 16 points for the Lady Rebels.

The second quarter faired no better for the Lady Tigers. Fannin extended its lead by outscoring Dawson 13-12 to take a 25-15 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Dawson had a good third quarter. The Lady Tiger defense forced several Fannin turnovers that led to Dawson points. It wasn’t enough as Fannin pulled away in the fourth to take a 13-point win.

Lady Tiger scorers: Phillips-13; Morgan Huber-5; Amanda Sheriff-4; Kimberly Wallace-3; Cheyenne Bennett-3; Morgan Bennett-3; Judith Hall-2.

The Lady Tigers had to make the long trip to Tiger to play Rabun County last Friday in the last regular season game for both teams.

Rabun came into the game with a 21-2 overall record and a #8-ranking in AA.

The Lady Wildcats also clinched a #1-seed in Region 8-AA (A).

Dawson, once again, got off to a slow start offensively. The Lady Wildcats used full-court pressure to build a 41-19 lead at halftime. It was too much for the Lady Tigers to overcome as Rabun pulled away with a 63-40 win.

“We gave up too many points in the first half,” commented Sweat. “Rabun County came out on fire in the first half. We must quit digging such a hole to have to get out of early in the game.”

The Lady Tigers placed eight players in the scoring column.

Jessi Phillips was the only Dawson player to reach double figures with 10 points.

Other Lady Tigers to score were Morgan Bennett with 9, Erin Gordon had 8, Cheyenne Bennett scored 4, Christian Daniel had 3, and Amanda Sheriff, Jade Hyde and Kim Wallace had 2 points each.

Dawson played better in the second half only getting outscored 23-22.

The Lady Tigers were exceptional at the free throw line going 15 for 20.

E-mail Pam Jacobs at sports@dawsonnews.com.