Girls' basketball cannot overcome Franklin's smothering defense

Posted Dec. 11, 2022

Staff Reporters

Smothering defense, among other factors, from the Franklin Lightning caused the Lady Scots Basketball Team to lose on Dec. 9, 53-15.

The Lady Scots struggled with defense in the first quarter with Franklin making the first points by a layup. After fouling Franklin, junior 5-foot-5 guard Eva Chubare made a layup and gained the Scots’ first points making the score 2-4 with Franklin in the lead. Throughout the first quarter, Douglas fouled Franklin three more times, with the end score being 4-13.

In the second quarter, intense defense and struggling offense on both sides caused nothing to happen until after a timeout with 3:22 left. The score remained 4-13 until Douglas fouled Franklin again, but none of the two free throws were made. Junior 5-foot-7 guard Avery Kimball heroically made a layup to get the score up for Douglas to 6-13. Franklin made a three-pointer, bringing their score up to 6-16. Junior 5-foot-10 guard Ella Botnar got fouled and made both free throws, making the score 8-16. After Franklin got the ball back, Kimball and Botnar stole the ball and made a layup, making Douglas only down by 6 points with the score being 10-16. The second quarter ended after Botnar got fouled and made one free throw, making the finishing score 11-16.

“Right now some of our struggles are that we’re a very young team meaning we haven’t had a lot of people play at a varsity level for many minutes,” said Lady Scots’s Coach Marshall, “And so right now we’re getting used to that speed, and we’re looking forward to continuing to work hard in practice,”

The third quarter began with four consecutive layups from Franklin making the score 11-24. It ended with Douglas fouling and one free throw being made for Franklin. The ending score was 11-25.

Photoss by web taff reporter Emilia Gutu.

All the action, however, happened in the fourth quarter. Franklin started off with a layup. Then, a three-pointer, bringing the score to 11-30. Then Franklin with three more consecutive layups made the score 11-36. A foul by Douglas gave Franklin one successful free throw, making the score 11-37. Franklin made two more layups to bring their score up to 11-41. Finally, Kimball saved Douglas by making a layup, increasing their score to 13-41. A Franklin three-pointer made the score 13-44. Sophomore 5-foot-3 guard Brazil Campbell got fouled and made one out of two free throws. The score resulted in 14-46. Following, sophomore 5-foot-5 guard Heidi Chang made one free throw.

“Right now our strengths is that we work hard, and don’t give up, no matter what the score is or where we’re at in the game,” Coach Heather Marshall said after the game.

Franklin with tough-to-beat defense ended up winning the game against the Lady Scots with the finishing score being 15-53.