The Dawson County Middle School eighth grade girls’ basketball team defeated Lumpkin County, 27-16, before losing at Union County, 31-28, last week.
The Lady Tigers are currently 1-1 on the season.
On Nov. 9 the Lady Tigers traveled to Lumpkin County. The Lady Tigers jumped out to a 17-4 halftime lead before struggling to end the game.
Foul trouble hurt the team in both the second and third quarters.
Lady Tiger Sheyenne Seabolt picked up her third foul in the second quarter and Dawson managed only four points during her absence.
Seabolt reentered the game in the fourth quarter and scored six of Dawson’s eight points in the final quarter to push her team past its opponents, 27-16.
“We had three players in foul trouble for most of the game,” said Head Coach Mike Cox. “We also committed too many turnovers. We will have to do a better job of protecting the ball.”
Scoring for Dawson County were: Seabolt-16 points; Jordan Moore, five points; Cassidy Lecours, Cheyenne Loggins and Brianna Paxton, with two points each.
On Friday, Nov. 12 the Lady Tigers traveled to Blairsville to face a traditionally tough Union County team.
True to form, the Lady Panthers were strong and took a 17-8 advantage into the locker room at halftime.
“Union came out more prepared and appeared to be ready to put the game away in the first half. The Lady Tigers were caught flat footed and were out hustled by Union County,” Cox said.
Dawson fought back to narrow the gap to 21-20 at the end of the third quarter and outscored Union, 12-4.
The Lady Tigers took a 3-point lead midway through the fourth quarter.
A big 3-pointer by Lady Panther Kaitlyn Day evened the score and reversed the momentum back to Union’s favor.
Union pulled it out late in the fourth quarter to get the 31-28 win.
“Even though the Lady Tigers played much better in the second half our shooting was ice cold the entire game,” Cox said.
“The Lady Tigers played hard and kept getting to the free throw line where we did well,” he added.
Sheyenne Seabolt connected on 9-of-13 free throws and Cassidy Lecours made 6-of-9 from the charity stripe. The Lady Tigers scored 16 of their 28 points from the free throw line.
Seabolt led all Dawson scorers with 17 points. She was followed by Lecours with six points, Celeste Chism added three points and Cheyenne Loggins contributed with two points.