Robbins leads Cubs past Southport in OT

When the going got tough Tuesday night, Franklin guard Hailee Robbins got it going.

The sophomore guard scored 12 of her team’s final 15 points inside the final two minutes of the fourth quarter and overtime as the host Grizzly Cubs defeated Southport 54-47.

Franklin is now 2-0 entering tonight’s game at Franklin Central — the team’s first road test of the young season. The 5-foot-10 Robbins takes the Flashes court averaging 21.5 points in her two starts.

“Hailee is hungry. She puts in a lot of extra work. Before practice, after practice. She even comes in in the morning sometimes and works,” Cubs coach Josh Sabol said. “If you think about it, she had 20 points, but how many minutes did she play? Maybe 15?

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“She was in foul trouble the whole first half and the whole third quarter. In the fourth quarter and in overtime, she started to take over.”

A sloppy game for the most part — Southport committed 22 turnovers to Franklin’s 19 — the excitement level rose significantly inside the final two minutes of the final stanza.

Trailing 42-39, the Grizzly Cubs began making their move on a Robbins layup. A Cardinals turnover on the ensuing possession led to Robbins’ 3-pointer from the right wing with 1:24 left in regulation.

Southport senior guard Andrea Vidaurre tied the score with a baseline runner, but another Robbins triple at 52.6 seconds seemed to put Franklin back in command. Vidaurre answered with a trey of her own, and the squads were headed to an extra session.

It’s here Franklin used four points from Robbins and three free throws from sophomore forward Abby DeArmitt to close it out. The Cardinals didn’t score in overtime.

No other Cubs player landed in double-figures, though senior forward Maya Elliott and freshman guard Kyra Baker had nine apiece. Elliott finished with a team-best eight rebounds, with DeArmitt close behind with six.

Elliott is the lone senior on Franklin’s roster.

“I think when you have young players, they’re not experienced. The only way you really learn is being in these types of games,” Sabol said. “As many mistakes as we had, our last nine possessions of the game we never turned it over.

“Once we started taking care of the ball, they started to see they could score. I think young teams all go through that, especially when you have young guards like we do.”

Southport forward Savannah Edington led all scorers with 24 points.