Fri Jul 30 2010
One weekend, two games, two wins.
Franklin County’s girls basketball team opened its season with a victory at home Friday night over Henry Clay, and on Saturday morning defeated Letcher County Central in the Battle of the Bluegrass at the Frankfort Convention Center.
“These are the first two games of the season,” FCHS coach Joey Thacker said after the Lady Flyers’ 59-55 win over LCC Saturday. “We have some things to work on.
“My teams traditionally haven’t played their best in December,” he added. “We had some spurts where we were real effective, and then we’d go into December mode. That’s something we can work out over the next three months.”
The Lady Flyers (2-0) had an eight-point run at the end of the first quarter Saturday to lead 16-6 when the period ended, but Letcher County Central opened the second quarter with a 10-point run, tying the game at 16-16 with 5:05 left before halftime.
The game was close the rest of the second quarter, and a 3-pointer by Kelah Eldridge gave the Lady Cougars a 24-22 halftime lead.
Leading 36-34 with 2:52 left in the third quarter, FCHS went on an 8-2 run to take a 44-36 lead into the final period.
“We challenged them a little bit at halftime,” Thacker said, “and they responded. Chelsea Craig, Andrea Howard and Raven Timmons came up big on the backboard.
“They limited their second chances,” he added, “and that’s where they hurt us in the second quarter.”
The Lady Cougars (2-1) scored the first four points of the third quarter to cut the FCHS lead to four at 44-40, but the Lady Flyers extended their lead to 12, 53-41, with 2:44 left in the game with five free throws and layups by Howard and Craig.
LCC turned up the full-court pressure, forcing the Franklin County into eight turnovers in the fourth quarter, and the Lady Cougars pulled within five points with five free throws and a jumper by Erica Meade, making the score 53-48 with 1:56 remaining.
“We haven’t worked on our press offense a lot,” Thacker said. “We’ve been working more on defense and transitional stuff and not a lot on our offense in the halfcourt.
“We don’t want to get in a track meet with people,” he added. “We have a lot of depth, but we don’t have a lot of quick depth.”
Franklin County went 4-for-6 from the foul line over a 41-second span, putting FCHS ahead 57-48 with 57 seconds left, and LCC didn’t get closer than four points the rest of the way.
Craig, Howard and Ashli Mayes were all in double figures for FCHS. Craig finished with 16 points and nine rebounds, Howard had 12 points and four assists, and Mayes had 10 points and six rebounds.
The Lady Cougars were led by Shannon Bays and Eldridge with 13 points each.
FCHS plays its next game at home Tuesday against Lafayette.
LETCHER CO. CENTRAL (55) – Shannon Bays 13, Brittany Sexton 7, Haley Whitaker 3, Erica Meade 8, Kelah Eldridge 13, Julie Cornett 11.
FRANKLIN CO. (59) – Chelsea Rivers 6, Andrea Howard 12, Brittany Mello 1, Raven Timmons 8, Lacinda Hack 6, Ashli Mayes 10, Chelsea Craig 16.
>The Lady Flyers used a big second quarter to put some distance between themselves and Henry Clay Friday at FCHS.
The Lady Devils led 13-12 at the end of the first quarter, but the Lady Flyers poured in 23 points in the second period to lead 35-24 at halftime.
FCHS went on to a 59-46 victory.
“Andrea scored 16 points in the second quarter,” Thacker said, “and Chelsea Rivers shot the ball phenomenally well. We did a really good job in the second quarter of getting the lead.”
Howard finished with 23 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists and five steals, and Rivers had 16 points and four steals.
Mayes had 10 rebounds and finished with eight points, and Craig had 10 points.
Rounding out the scoring for the Lady Flyers were Chelsea Brown with two points and Timmons with one.
“We came out of this weekend 2-0,” Thacker said. “I know the girls were tired, but they battled. With a tough schedule, we have to work hard in practice if we’re going to achieve what we want to.”
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