Franklin’s girls basketball team played well Tuesday night to score an 68-30 win against host Edinburgh in the first round of the annual Johnson County Tournament.
Franklin now advances to the semifinals Friday night at Center Grove. The Cubs will take on Greenwood in the second game.
“We got the pressure on them early, and our quickness had a lot to do with that,” Franklin coach Walt Raines said. “We knew going into the game (Edinburgh) would do well, and we expected that.”
The Grizzly Cubs (2-3), who have lost their three games by a total of nine points, were determined to reverse their fortunes.
The Cubs used their experience from the previous games, quickness and better free-throw shooting. Also playing a key role was Franklin’s defensive effort.
The Cubs used a suffocating press in the first half to pull away from what was in the initial moments a tight game.
As a result, the Cubs’ defense limited the Lancers to 14 first-half points and didn’t allow Edinburgh a shot in the second quarter for nearly three minutes.
It didn’t help that Edinburgh forced several passes into the wrong hands.
By halftime, the game essentially was over.
This allowed Raines to try new people and new things in the game, but more importantly get his squad more experience with ample playing time.
And the Cubs continued to roll.
“We wanted to take away the options, and we did a very good job of that, especially in the first and second quarters,” Raines said.
Edinburgh did have a problem they need to solve soon. It was the same one coach Amy Macy pointed out many times last year, though on Tuesday Franklin had a lot to do with that.
“They played their pressure defense really well,” Macy said. “We had 28 turnovers. You won’t get many shots with that.”
Franklin had three players in double-figures, led by senior guard Maci Eads with 18 points. Junior center Allison Barnard added 16 points and sophomore Sarah Sullivan had 10.
Edinburgh was led by 6-foot senior center Mariah Weddle with 10 points. Weddle also had a game-high 11 rebounds.
While the loss was the third in a row for the Lancers (1-3), Macy found plenty to be happy about.
“We came out strong and played with them,” Macy said. “We had a good rebounding effort, too. We didn’t do well the last few games rebounding and I liked the way we broke their press at times.”
