Lady Panthers split Habersham, Elbert games

After a strong start to the new year with a victory over Habersham Central, the Jackson County Lady Panthers hit a bump in the regional road this past Friday by dropping a loss to Elbert County.

The Lady Panthers now look ahead to their next region pairing, as they’ll play host to Oconee County this Friday. The Lady Warriors enter play this week with a 9-4 overall record and 2-1 in the region.

Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Habersham

The Lady Panthers began play last week with a non-region pairing at home against the Lady Raiders of Habersham Central on Tuesday.

Jackson County took control early, moving out to a 15-point advantage at one point. Despite a slowdown late in the fourth quarter, the Lady Panthers went on to win 43-38.

Bree Drew led in scoring with 19 points and 10 rebounds on the night. Emily Elrod had four steals, three deflections and four assists.

“I was real pleased with all of the game except for the last part, where we seemed to coast home,” said coach Chad Pittman. “At that point, you want to drop the hammer and put the game away.”

“After coming off those two games at Christmas, we were looking to jump-start the second half of the season with a win,” Pittman added. “I was real proud of being able to come out Tuesday and get a win against Habersham.”

Elbert County

The Lady Panthers began the heart of their region schedule on Friday as they hosted the Lady Blue Devils of Elbert County.

Jackson County seemed to lack the intensity and energy that they had shown in previous games, and soon found themselves trailing Elbert County. At one point, they trailed by 15 points, 38-23. The Lady
Panthers began to rally, however, cutting the lead to 42-26 late. They had an opportunity to make it a four-point game, but missed with about two minutes left to play. In the end, the Lady Blue Devils pulled out the win, 53-40.

“From here on out, all of our games are region games, meaning they are very important,” Pittman said. “Our kids have to understand that each game is a chance to put yourself in a better spot in the region tournament. For us to play sluggish and not play well and turn the ball over like that, not to take anything away from Elbert, I kind of felt like they didn’t beat us, we beat ourselves.”

For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Jackson Herald or The Braselton News.