Lady Broncos recover to gain a huge win

Published 12:00 am Saturday, December 29, 2007

FRANKLIN—The Franklin High School girls’ basketball team overcame a poor second quarter and continued its winning streak at six games with a 64-33 win over Brunswick in a non-district game Tuesday night.

After being outscored 10-6 by Brunswick in the second quarter, Franklin (6-0) went to the full court press and scored more points in the first 2:12 of the third quarter than it did the entire second quarter. The Lady Broncos scored the first 11 points of the period to put the game away. With the exception of a 3-pointer by Keshara Bradley, all of Franklin’s points involved the fast break game, which came from the full court defense.

“We used the full-court press defense, and that got the deadness out of us,” said Mona Sumblin, Franklin head coach. “I didn’t want to do it too early, because I didn’t want to run out of gas, but that’s the difference in our game because we have those quick guards.”

Franklin led 13-5 after one quarter, but both teams played a sloppy second quarter. Brunswick opened the period with a 7-1 advantage, and cut the Franklin lead to 14-12 with 4:12 to play in the half on a jumper by Jessica Edgerton. With just a 19-15 lead at the half, Sumblin decided to go with the press.

“I usually wait until the second half to do that. If we get it done in the first two (quarters), then we don’t have to. If we’re not getting it done, then we have to,” Sumblin said.

Bradley and Janice Holeman, who played a strong game on the inside, both scored 12 points to

lead Franklin.

The Lady Broncos have opened the season beating double A schools.

“We can compete on the double level A, so we should be able to compete on the single A level when we start the district schedule,” Sumblin said.

Franklin travels to Southampton on Dec. 8 in its final non-district game. The Lady Broncos open the Tri-Rivers District schedule at home on Jan. 8 against Appommatox Regional Governor’s School.