Tigers win some, lose some over this year’s basketball season

Ashley Hunter
ECB Publishing, Inc.

Nine wins and nine losses have paved the Tigers way throughout this school year’s basketball season.
The Tiger season began in November with games against the Highland Christian Academy Eagles (79-50), Leon High School Lions (68-57), Sneads High School Pirates (65-69) and the Gadsden County High School Jaguars (80-41).
While all of November's games resulted in losses, the Tigers suffered one more defeat in early December when they played against the Godby High School Cougars (85-30) before making back-to-back wins on Thursday, Dec. 5 and Tuesday, Dec. 10, when the Tigers played against the Lafayette High School Hornets (winning 72-36) and Dixie County High School Bears (winning 70-41).

The two wins would briefly stand alone in the Tigers' schedule, as the Tigers fell again to the Highland Christian Academy Eagles (56-50) on Thursday, Dec. 12 and the Orange Park High School Raiders (78-52) on Saturday, Dec. 14.
Despite the two losses, the Tigers rallied hard and found a way to score their third win of the season against the Hamilton County High School Trojans (66-52) on Tuesday, Dec. 17.
That win against the Trojans would inspire the Tigers to obtain their fourth and fifth seasonal wins when the Jefferson County team played against the Madison County High School Cowboys (61-54) on Thursday, Dec. 19 and the Westwood High School Wildcats (86-48) on Saturday, Dec. 21.
With these repeat-wins under their belts, Tiger athletes and fans looked excitedly to future wins in their upcoming schedule of games.
Following the Tiger's conflict with the Westwood Wildcats, the Tigers prepared for an at-home game against the FAMU High Baby Rattlers.
This marked an exciting game for the two teams, as the Jefferson Somerset Tigers and FAMU High Baby Rattlers are one of the few boy's basketball teams in Florida that are led by a female head coach.
The Friday, Jan. 3 game between the two teams allowed Coach Q'vaunda Curry (Tigers) and Coach Dione Desir (Baby Rattlers) to show off their teams at the first game of the new year.
The Tigers vs. Baby Rattler game was hard-fought, with both teams narrowly leading throughout the game's four quarters. By the time of the final buzzer, the Baby Rattlers were in the lead, but only barely, as the game concluded with a 75-74 score – placing the Tigers only a brief step behind the Rattlers.
Next, the Tigers were able to face off against the Madison County Cowboys again on Saturday, Jan. 4, and the Tigers had high hopes to reestablish a second win against their neighboring team; unfortunately, the win went to the Cowboys when the game concluded with a 73-52 score.
Feeling the sting of a loss in the Madison County court, the Tigers surged back into the game on Tuesday, Jan. 7 when facing the Hamilton County Trojans. The January 7 game, at home for the Tigers, pitted the two teams against each other. Like the Tigers, the Trojans' most recent game had also been a defeat, so both teams were eager to claim a win against the other.
It was the Tigers, however, who laid claim to the game and sent the Hamilton Trojans home with a sore defeat of 74-53.
Three more wins would be attributed to the Tigers, as Jefferson County's team faced off against the Hornets of Lafayette County on Thursday, Jan. 9 and the Bulldogs of Taylor County on Saturday, Jan. 11. Both games were big wins for the Jefferson County team; walking away from the Hornets, the Tigers won 84-60 and then 93-67 against the Bulldogs – the highest the Tigers had scored in any single game.
The Tigers also won 50-35 against Dixie County’s Bears on Tuesday, Jan. 14.
There are still several games on the calendar for the Jefferson County Tigers. The next will be on Friday, Jan. 17 against the Crossroad Academy Scorpions.
Held in the Jefferson Somerset gym, the game will begin at 7:30 p.m. - parents, friends and community supporters are all invited to attend and cheer loud for the Jefferson Tigers.