The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
They fought until the end, but the Franklin High School girls’ basketball team lost an overtime heartbreaker in the March 1 Somerset County championships to Gill St. Bernard’s, 55-51.
Gill got off to a quick 4-0 lead, but the Lady Warriors fought back, tying the game at 4 with about 4 minutes left in the first quarter.
The first quarter ended with Gill holding a 12-8 lead.
The two teams traded leads during the second quarter, with the half ending with a 29-29 tie.
It looked like Gill might be running away with the in the third quarter, building a 7-point lead, 41-34, about halfway through the period. The lady Warriors could only knock two points off that lead by the end of the quarter, down 46-41.
The final eight minutes of regulation time had the crowds on both sides of the court on their feet and cheering. With just under four minutes to go, Gill held on to a 49-48 lead.
The score was tied at 49 with two minutes to go, and regulation time ended with a 51-51 tie.
The Lady Warriors went cold in the overtime, though, while Gill was able to add four points to its lead, winning the game 55-51.
Coach Audry Taylor had nothing but praise for her girls.
“I’m proud of the girls,” she said. “They played their hearts out.”
Taylor said her team “thought we could win it” all through the overtime period.
“The balls would not drop,” she said.
Taylor said the “anxiety and emotion” of the game may have affected her younger players.
“They weren’t doing things like moving the ball, the little things,” she said.
Taylor also praised the fans who showed up to pack the bleachers.
“They love that,” she said of her team. “It pumps them up.”
“It was awesome to have the support of everybody who came out,” she said.
The team goes against Ridge High School on March 4 for the state sectionals first round.
“We have a good chance to get a ‘W’ there,” Taylor said.
3-1-14 Girls' Basketball County Championships
