The Dawson County Middle School Lady Tiger eighth-grade girls basketball team finished the regular season undefeated following two wins last week.

The team, coached by Tina Brown, defeated Riverview, 32-17, on Jan. 14 and Clear Creek, 29-25, on Jan. 17 to finish the season with a 10-0 record.

Dawson County will be the No. 1 seed going into this week's Mountain League Tournament at Fannin County Middle School in Blue Ridge.

The Lady Tigers will play in a semi-final game at 5:30 p.m. Friday.

"The only thing this means is we get a bye in the first round," Brown sid. "This year the competition is as close as I have ever seen it. Regardless of your season record, one bad game in this tournament and you are done. We have our work cut out for us. We have to take it one game at a time."

The game against cross-county rival Riverview Middle on Jan. 14 saw the Lady Tigers break out a huge 17-6 lead after just one quarter of play.

The Lady Tigers extended their lead to 27-8 at halftime and didn't look back to take the win.

Emma Brown led all scorers with 11 points. Brown was followed by Lady Tiger teammates: Cadey Ayers with eight points, Abi Chatham and Marley Hamby with six points each and Calli Watson contributed with one point.

Friday's game at Clear Creek Middle in Ellijay was a hard fought contest.

The Lady Tigers trailed 18-15 at halftime. After some halftime adjustments on defense, Dawson County took a 23-18 lead after three quarters and held the Lady Bobcats scoreless in the quarter.

"Clear Creek was shooting very well and we were having trouble stopping them. We did not give up and kept working and was able to come back to win the game. It was a very close game and I am really proud of my girls for not folding under pressure," Brown said.

Once again Brown led all scoring with 16 points.

Ayers added six points, Chatham had four and Watson scored three points in the win.