ARCANUM – The theme on opening night at the Lady Trojan Tip-Off was youth over experience.
Franklin Monroe plays a lineup whose core is comprised of mainly sophomores and has just one senior. Northwestern’s lineup was mostly seniors (three) and juniors.
Another theme on day one was that the Cross County Conference teams came out on top. The young Jets prevailed handily over their Central Buckeye Conference foe, 59-20.
The Jets had no early season jitters and came out gunning. Belle Cable made the first score of the season to give the Jets a lead that would not relinquish. Late in the quarter they were up 17-2.
The Jets did press a little but called it off after they had a firm lead. They were able to score inside – feeding the ball to Corina Conley. And they could also score with outside shooting; Belle Cable was able to connect from behind the arc.
The team really shined on defense and only allowed a single basket from the field in the second quarter and had a healthy 41-9 lead at the half.
In the last quarter, the team cleared the bench – but FM did not lose a step defensively, only allowing 11 points in the entire second half. And the offense stayed on track, scoring 18 more points.
“In the preseason we focused on getting defensive stops and getting the ball down the floor,” Franklin Monroe girls basketball coach Abbey Moore said. “Working hard on defense gives us offensive opportunities on the other end. I thought Kennedy Morris had a good night – she got her hand on a lot of basketballs tonight – as did Corina Conley – they both have a big wing span. They have a little challenge to see how many deflections they can get. And tonight was a good night for both of them.
“We finished strong in the last quarter. Chloe Peters played well for us. She played a good game for the JV earlier, and when she got into the varsity game, she made some big plays.”
One thing that you don’t usually see this early in the season was excellent foul shooting. The Jets were 81 percent from the line on the night, something that you don’t expect from a young team. The extra points did not make much difference in this game, but could be a difference maker in future games in what is expected to be a tough CCC.
Coach Moore was pleased.
“We did not miss a free throw in the first half,” she said. “We have a couple of drills we do practice to reinforce that – the girls don’t like them, but you can see that it paid off.”
Coach Moore was glad to get the first game out of the way.
“We had so many emotions coming into the game,” she said, “but we were able to put it all together and get the win tonight. Our transition game really got us going. Our defense fed our offense.”
Corina Conley and Kennedy Morris lead the team in rebounds with seven and five respectively. Morris also led the team in assists with seven. Chloe Brumbaugh had five steals.
Conley led Franklin Monroe with 14 points, Belle Cable scored 12, Brumbaugh 8, Morris 7, Chloe Peters 7, Audrey Cable 4, Chloe McGlinch 4 and Stella Shellabarger 3.
