Lady Warriors Advance To Group Finals In Late-Game Victory Over East Orange

Franklin’s Alexandra Jackson during the March 12 group semifinal game against East Orange.

It looked bad with 22 seconds left in the 4th quarter.

Within the course of about two minutes, the Lady Warriors had blown a 15-point lead in the Group 4 semifinals game against East Orange in Union High School March 12.

With 22 seconds left in the game, the Lady Warriors were down 62-61 and the momentum was clearly with the Jaguars.

But that momentum would shift seconds later, when the rebound from a missed shot by Adreana Miller was grabbed by Jaeda Wildgoose, who then banked a layup to give the Lady Warriors the slimmest of leads, 63-62.

Wildgoose then raced back to the other end of the court in time to block a layup that would have cost Franklin the game. Miller dropping one of two foul shots with about six seconds left sealed the Lady Warriors’ win.

Both teams started out slowly, with no points being scored until about halfway through the first quarter. But East Orange ramped it up, leading 17-12 after one.

Franklin put on a show of their own in the second quarter, doubling East Orange 16-8 and ending the first half with a 28-25 lead.

The Lady Warriors increased their lead to 47-40 after the third quarter.

Miller once again led all scorers with 26 points, followed by Wildgoose’s 14 and Tahirah Scott’s 12. Alexandra Jackson scored 6 points, Mary Trossi scored 4 and Monique Davis-Campbell scored 2.

An emotional Miller said after the game that there was a point when she thought Franklin’s season might end that night.

“Definitely, especially when they had their run (in the fourth quarter),” she said. “We lost our composure and we weren’t executing.”

“But we wanted it more and we snatched it from them,” Miller said.

Franklin coach Audrey Taylor agreed.

“The girls wanted every bit of this,” she said. “We came in as underdogs, there was no pressure on us, so we just came in and fought.”

The team’s will to win got them through that last quarter, Taylor said.

“They’ve had heart from the minute they were freshmen,” she said. “That’s something that’s never left them, so they’re going to fight to the end, no matter what.”

With the win, the Lady Warriors have a date with Shawnee at Toms River High School for the group championship.

“This is like, this is like sprinkles on a doughnut, this is like the fudge on ice cream,” Taylor said. “This is a big win for us and this is the momentum that I hope is going to carry us right to where we want to be.”

Lady Warriors vs. East Orange 3-12-15

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