Lady Tigers continue to show improvement as season progresses

The Commerce girls’ basketball team may have a 4-13 record, but head coach Rex Gregg feels optimistic in the progress his Tigers have made.

“We’ve really shown a lot of improvement,” said Gregg. “In the last three weeks they’ve come a long way from where they were when they started. That is something to be proud of.”

While the Lady Tigers have only won two of their last five games, they have kept the scores much closer than earlier in the season.

In fact, in the last three weeks, the Tigers have dropped just one game by more than 10 points.

“It hasn’t shown in the win-loss column, but our level of play has improved,” added Gregg. “As a coach, that’s all you can really ask for.”

On Tuesday, Jan. 15, the Tigers picked up their fourth win of the season when they knocked off Athens Christian 33-19 at home.

Commerce completely controlled the ballgame, outscoring the Eagles in every single quarter.

Gregg was particularly impressed with the performance of freshman Libbi Lance.

“She had one of the better games that you could have, for any girl of any age,” he said.

Lance led scoring with 16 points, made seven of nine field goals, was one for one from the free throw line, had five rebounds, four assists and five steals.

Last Friday, the Lady Tigers traveled to Athens Academy, where the Spartans narrowly edged out Commerce by two in the last few seconds of the game.

The score remained tight for most of the game. Commerce tied it up at 42 with 4.5 seconds left in regulation, but missed a free throw and got a foul when going for a rebound.

The Spartans capitalized and hit a field goal with time expiring to take the 44-42 victory.

“I thought we played our best game of the season all around – offensively and defensively,” said Gregg. “We definitely shot the ball better, but had too many turnovers.”

The Tigers were 13 of 17 on free throws and shot just over 40 percent from the floor (50 percent on two-point field goals).

“The girls are really getting better,” said Gregg. “Hopefully we can finish strong and win a few more games.”

The Lady Tigers fell to George Walton Academy 62-22 on Tuesday.

Commerce will travel to Hebron Christian on Friday to take on the Lions at 6 p.m.