It was a busy week for Coach Steve Sweat and his Lady Tiger basketball team. The team played three away games, which is always trying for a veteran team.
Dawson County passed the test with wins over Region 7-AAA foe White County, 69-37, and next door neighbor Lumpkin County, 50-27.
The only hiccup was a trip to Columbus (7-0) to play Columbus High School. The Lady Blue Devils are very athletic and strong. It showed on Saturday with Columbus coming away with a, 75-55, win.
White came into Tuesday's game sporting a 6-0 record but Dawson used a 20-6 opening quarter to establish an insurmountable lead. The Lady Tigers stretched the lead out to 35-22 at the break and never looked back.
Ashley Parker had a big night offensively, scorering 27 points in the win.
Also scoring in double digits was sophomore guard Karlie Bearden with 15 points.
"We were able to put together a good game on the road against a tough White County team," Sweat said. "It was a much needed region win. I thought our players played good team ball tonight."
Seven other Lady Tigers entered the scoring column. Scoring were Sheyenne Seabolt-8, Jordan Moore-5, Erin Chatham-5, Haley Burgess-4, Brooke Wende-3, Madison Shope-1, and Lauren Burgess-1.
The team traveled to Dahlonega to face the Indians (0-10) of Coach Matt Youngblood on Friday night. Dawson had defeated Lumpkin 66-33 last week. This time the rematch was a little more competitive with Dawson coming away with a 23-point win.
Dawson used a great first quarter, once again, to jump out to a big lead. Defense was the key as the Lady Tigers held Lumpkin to only two first quarter points and a 12-2 advantage.
The Lady Tigers turned up the offense in the second quarter to outscore their rival 18-13 and hold a 30-15 lead at intermission.
The Lady Tigers only managed one point in the quarter but were still able to coast to a victory.
"It is always interesting when we play our biggest rival in anything," Sweat said. "We started out slow but got things going with the press.
Haley Burgess had a great scoring night for the Lady Tigers. The sophomore guard had 13 points on 3 three-point shots.
Dawson County also placed two other players in double digits. Seabolt scored 13 points with 6 rebounds followed by Lady Tiger teammate Parker with 14 points.
Also scoring for the Lady Tigers were Bearden with 9 points and Chatham who added 2 points.
The Lady Tigers traveled to Columbus on Saturday and faced one of the better teams in Class AAAA in Columbus High School. Dawson County met their match in the Lady Blue Devils.
Columbus was almost unstoppable offensively. The Lady Blue Devils rattled off 45 points in the first half to take a 45-28 lead at halftime.
Even though the Lady Tigers played hard, Columbus used their quickness and skill to take the win.
"We were able to make some runs but Columbus answered them," Sweat said. "We have got a lot of work to do on offense and defense to be able to everybody we need to beat."
Seabolt, Bearden and Parker led the Lady Tigers in scoring with 16, 14, and 11 points respectively. Parker recorded a double-double by also pulling down 10 rebounds.
Also scoring for Dawson County were Ansley Costley-6, Burgess-2, Moore-2, Erin Chastain-1 and Tabitha Morrison-1.
Dawson County are now 9-2 overall. The team is off until Dec. 26 when they will travel to Towns County High School for the annual Battle of the States tournament.
The Lady Tigers will match up with Union County in the first round. Tip-off will be at 4 p.m. The winner of this game will play the winner of Towns County and Gordon Lee.