The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
The new coaching staff for the Franklin Middle School girl’s basketball team did not enter their premiere year thinking championship, but that’s just what happened on February 13.
The team, led by first-year head coach Tiana Jackson – a veteran of state championships as a player at Franklin High School – captured the Dan Grigal Memorial Tournament championship, besting Hillsborough 38-23.
“I’ll be honest, I didn’t set the expectation for going and winning a championship our first year,” Jackson said. “We were really emphasizing just playing together, playing as a team and doing the little things because that was what was gonna matter at the end. The championship just fell in line with that.”
Franklin got off to a slow start against Hillsborough – a team with whom they’d split two previous games – falling behind in the opening moments, but managing to take the first quarter by a slim 10-7.
Franklin opened the game up in the second quarter, ending the half leading 21-9.
The third quarter ended with Franklin leading 30-15.
Jackson took a page from the gospel of former Lady Warriors coach Audrey Taylor, saying that the key to the February 13 win was defense.
“Offense is cool and it’s cute, but being able to stop them and continue to keep them out of their rhythm, their offensive rhythm, was gonna win us that game,” Jackson said. “Defense really does win championships, and they proved that tonight.”
Jackson said at halftime, she told her players to not be too confident about the 12-point lead they held.
Jackson said she told them that “this is anybody’s game. We know that we can come back from this type of deficit, that means that they can, too. So it was really just emphasizing the fact that defense was going to win us this game.”
Assistant coach Kennady Schenck – a teammate of Jackson’s on the two FHS state championship teams – said the team worked hard for the win.
“We had our fallouts, but we came together at the end,” she said. “We put in the work. We put in our defense. We used our offense. We had each other’s back and that’s what really matters, that we had each other’s back, we were there for each other.”
“They relied on our coaches, the coaches relied on the players, so I think once we all worked together, we put out the win,” she said.
Jackson and Schenck spoke to the Franklin Reporter shortly after the win:
https://fb.watch/xKLChU95P2/
Here are some scenes from the game:
Stay ‘In the Know,’ subscribe to the Franklin Reporter & Advocate!
No other media outlet covering Franklin Township brings you the depth of information presented by the Franklin Reporter & Advocate. Period. We are the only truly independent media serving the Eight Villages.
But we can only do that with your support. Please consider a yearly subscription to our online news site; at $37 a year, it’s one of the best investments you can make for yourself.
To subscribe, please click here.
