PITSBURG – The Franklin Monroe Lady Jets barely waited for the ball to bounce Thursday night at The Hangar before hanging some points on the multi-colored scoreboard against Darke County rival Ansonia.
The end result was a convincing 63-25 win over the upstart Tigers as Abbey Moore’s nifty nine jumped out to a 21-8 first quarter lead and never looked back in dismantling Jim Bolin’s crew, who drop to 0-5. Franklin Monroe continues to motor on with a 5-2 record and another win in the highly competitive Cross County Conference.
First quarter firings showed Ansonia with the triple try magic as they had six of their 8 points from beyond the arc. Mariah Troutwine had a triple for part of her team leading 5 and Rylie Marker got Tigers’ fans riled up with a long three of her own for her points in the frame. Franklin Monroe hit the black jack magic number of 21 with some magic of their own from the perimeter. Leading the Jet attack was Belle Cable, who canned one of her three’s along with two driving buckets for a lucky number of 7. Corina Conley was on her usual rampage underneath the bucket with three baskets around the rim for 6. Stella Shellabarger was in the mix with four of her own to account for 17 of the Lady Jets total count.
Second quarter action saw Ansonia again going to the three ball with Trinity Henderson decorating the scoreboard with a three and two for 5 markers. Kierra Reichert made a right move and bucket for her deuce as Ansonia registered seven total points. Franklin Monroe scored two more than in the impressive first frame with 23 counters. The Lady Jets had Chloe McGlinch lead all the Jets with seven. Conley followed closely with six and Cable connected with four to make the count 44-15 with 16 minutes left to play.
Third quarter action saw the Jets jumping and arching their shots but nestled in only nine in a quarter where points were at a premium. The Tigers were playing tough on the defensive side but the offensive woes came to a head as they were shut out for the 8 minutes of action. Franklin Monroe motored on with Conley gaining three the old fashioned way and Cable canning a three of her own from long distance. The score mounted to a 38-point deficit at 53-15 for the young Tigers who only sport two seniors on the entire squad.
The fourth quarter spotted more subs than Subway with both teams knocking down an even 10 as both sides cheered on from opposite sides. The sides were pretty even this canto as Henderson hit four points followed closely by long range bomber Sky Edwards with a triple and Emily Wright making like the Wright brothers and airing in three the conventional way for Ansonia. Conley again led all scorers with two bankers for four of her game-high 19 points. Everyone else chipped in two as Franklin Monroe looks forward to a road trip at hard-charging Covington next Thursday night Dec. 20. The Buccaneers were the team that knocked the high flying Jets out of the tournament last year and that fact has not escaped Coach Moore.
”Chloe Peters got her first varsity start of the season and performed well. We shot the ball well and executed our game plan well causing us to be very efficient. With our small amount of numbers our motto is ‘next man up.’ This week with only one game we have plenty of time to prepare for Covington and I will get out there myself and play along with the coaches because we are so low in numbers. We want this game very much as Covington knocked us out of the tournament last year.” commented Moore.
Scoring for Ansonia – Troutwine 5, Henderson 9, Edwards 3, Reichert 2, Marker 3, Wright 3 for 25 points. Three 3’s, 6 regulars and one freebie out of three for 33 percent.
Scoring for Franklin Monroe – Peters 8, Cable 16, Conley 19, Shellabarger 7, McGlinch 9, Skylar Bauman 4 for 63 points. Three 3’s, 24 regulars and 6 freebies out of 11 for 55 percent.
