Bulldogs take bite out of FM girls, 44-25

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WEST MILTON – The Franklin-Monroe Lady Jets came out flying to the hoop in the first quarter, but ended up crash landing onto Milton Potsdam Road against the Milton-Union Lady Bulldogs on Monday night, 44-25.

Franklin-Monroe jetted out to a 15-10 first quarter lead only to be in a fog the rest of the night and score just 10 points over the next three quarters combined. The Lady Jets are now 14-6 overall and remain 8-2 in the league after this non-conference loss.

The Lady Bulldogs are having one of their best seasons ever improving to 13-6 overall and 6-2 in the Southwestern Buckeye League’s Southwestern Division.

Franklin-Monroe was led by junior Corina Conley with 14 points. She is now only 24 points away from reaching 1,000 points for a career. Milton-Union was led by 3-point specialist senior Kristen Dickison with 17 points, followed by the other double-digit scorer in fellow senior Olivia Brown with 11.

The first quarter was up and down basketball with both squads using precision passing for quick scores on fast breaks. The Franklin-Monroe Jets top motor was Conley, who placed 9 points in the bucket with some great assists from her teammates. Belle Cable rang the 3-point bell once for the Jets to help catapult them into a 5-point lead at 15-10 after eight minutes of play.

The feisty Bulldogs were led by the game’s leading scorer in Dickison, who maneuvered underneath well for two buckets to help get the Bulldogs into double digits at 10 for the red, white and black squad.

The second frame started quite well for the Jets as they scored the first two points and a 17-10 lead before the Bulldogs unleashed Dickison. Dickison had 8 points alone in this frame including two long 3’s to help get the Bulldogs running. Milton-Union reeled off 10 straight points to make the score read 20- 17. The Jets did counter briefly with a bucket to cut it to 20-19. However, MU ripped off another 6 points in succession to go up 25-19 at the break. Dickison led all scorers with 8 for the red hot Bulldogs, who outscored the Jets by a 15-4 tally to turn a 5-point deficit into a 6-point lead. Conley and senior Kennedy Morris tried to help keep the Jets afloat with a deuce apiece for their total of four points in eight minutes.

Third quarter theatrics were more of the same unfortunately for the Jets as they did tighten things briefly at 25-20 before being bitten again by another Bulldog run. This time it was a 12-3 jaunt that the red and black crew went on to close out the scoring at 37-23 after three. The Jets had costly turnovers at inopportune times and were limited to one shot on offense against the aggressive Milton-Union defensive. The Jets were led by the consistent Conley who hit for three of the Jets four points in this period. The Bulldogs unleashed their other senior Brown, who buried six points from underneath for half of the team’s dozen points in this canto.

Fourth quarter firings showed no fuel at all for the frustrated Jets as the ball would not fall as they got only two points in eight minutes of action. Franklin-Monroe got its two points from Stella Shellabarger, who was a perfect 2-for-2 from the free throw line. Milton only got seven points themselves for their efforts and were led by Dickison with three as both teams combined scored nine points in eight minutes of play. The 19-point victory for the amped up Bulldogs showed their stellar defense hitting on all cylinders as they held the usually potent Jets to just 6 second half points in 16 minutes of action.

”We must move on from this game as we have two more this week with South on Tuesday and Mississinawa Valley on Thursday night for Senior night. Give Milton all the credit tonight as Katie does a wonderful job with her girls as they are having one of their best seasons. We must make adjustments and if we don’t our season will end shortly as we are deep into the second half of our schedule,” Moore stated.

Scoring for Franklin-Monroe – Conley 14, Morris 5, Cable 3, Shellabarger 2, Chloe McGlinch 1 for 25 points. One triple, 8 regulars and six freebies out of 10 for 60 percent.

Scoring for Milton-Union – Rachel Thompson 8, Morgan Grudich 4, Madison Jones 4, Dickison 17, Brown 11 for 44 points. Two triples, 16 regulars and six out of 8 freebies for 75 percent.

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By Ted Landis Jr.

For The Daily Advocate

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