Girls 2-0 after Ensley’s shot
After long months of uncertainty, training and planning, the Franklin High School basketball season is finally underway.
On Jan. 18 the Panthers hosted Mountain Six rival Hendersonville for their first four games of the season. After a win by the JV girls and a narrow loss by the JV boys, Franklin’s Varsity girls got their first win of the season in the long-awaited opener.
The Lady Panthers started fast against the Bearcats, parlaying aggressive on-ball defense into several Bearcat turnovers and a 16-0 lead. Hendersonville eventually posted six points to end the quarter down 19-6.
Franklin kept its foot on the gas in the second quarter, settling into an offensive rhythm and continuing to frustrate the Bearcats on defense. After a Kandice Parker steal and transition basket brought the Panthers up 32-9 the Bearcats came out firing with a 12-4 run leading into halftime. At the buzzer the Panthers found themselves up by just 15 at 36-21.
By the third quarter Franklin had seen enough of the attempted comeback, getting an early boost when the Bearcats committed a shooting foul on Canaan Drake inside the arc during the half’s first minute. After Drake completed the three-point play the Panthers were back in business, enjoying solid defense from senior guard Nevaeh Tran and others while doubling up on the Bearcats’ score, 51-24.
The fourth quarter saw more offense than the three that preceded it, as both teams seemed to shake off the first-game rust and settle into their game plans. While Hendersonville scored six quick points in two minutes to bring the score to 57-30, the deficit proved too great, as the Panthers kept their offense whirring to keep the door firmly shut. The Panthers would take their first game 71-37.
After the game head coach Scott Hartbarger said the Panthers’ defense played a big role in stymying the Bearcats.
“Our pressure really bothered them,” said Hartbarger. “We ran our ‘32-Trap’ [half-court trap defense], and I think the first seven possessions we got six turnovers and scores, and it got near 20 to nothing pretty quick. … We were able to get easy stops and easy transition scores.”
On Friday, FHS’s girls returned to the Panther Den for a clash with the Pisgah Black Bears, and Panther faithful would be on the edge of their seats the rest of the evening. The girls game was tightly contested in the early going, with both teams trading drives down the court. Forward Sydney Williams provided several big plays on both ends for the Panthers, highlighted by a big block to keep the Panthers up 8-6 midway through the quarter. The Panthers kept up their solid defense throughout the quarter, ending the period up 15-12.
The second quarter began similarly close, with the Black Bears adding a couple baskets to tie the score at 17. After missing a shot and seeing Pisgah pick up her rebound minutes later, Williams immediately stole the ball back and layed it in to finish the play. On the ensuing possession, Williams put a hand in a Black Bear’s face to force an errant pass, resulting in a turnover in FHS’s favor. The Panthers ended the half up 31-25.
Pisgah came out firing in the second half, connecting on a corner three just 15 seconds into the third. After a second Pisgah three evened the score at 33, the game entered a deadlock that would not be broken until the final shot. Both teams traded points for the quarter’s remainder, as the game slowly morphed into a defensive struggle rife with steals and turnovers. The Panthers would end the period down 42-39.
More than two minutes elapsed before Pisgah connected for three for the quarter’s first field goal, giving the Black Bears their largest lead of the evening at 47-39. Slowly, the Panthers battled back, capped off by a Canaan Drake dish to an open Nevaeh Tran beyond the arc to bring the Panthers within three at 49-46. Both teams traded points until the final minutes of regulation, when Tori Ensley converted a layup and drew a foul with 2:12 remaining. After missing the free throw but drawing another foul while grabbing her own rebound, Ensley connected on two subsequent free throws to knot the game at 53. On the next possession, Ensley was fouled again driving into the lane, adding two more free throws and a subsequent rebound at the other end for good measure. Disaster nearly struck for the Panthers when Pisgah stole a Kandice Parker pass with the score knotted at 58 with 17 seconds remaining, forcing Parker to foul the Black Bear to prevent her from having a clear path to the basket. Luckily, Pisgah missed the free throw and the Panthers held on to force overtime.
The game became even more heated in overtime, featuring plenty of fouls and tough defense. The Panthers got several nice defensive plays in the four-minute period, including a block by Drake, an intercepted pass by Parker, and two steals by Nevaeh Tran. Neither team managed much on the offensive end, getting just four points apiece to tie the game at 62 going into the last half-minute. Parker nearly put the game on ice with 15 seconds remaining, grabbing an offensive rebound and putting it back from the free throw line to put Franklin up 64-62. It was not to be though, as Pisgah then connected on a long two-pointer to send the game into double overtime.
After nearly three minutes of defensive struggle, the Panthers flirted with defeat in the final period. Down 69-64 with 1:19 remaining, he Panthers held onto hope when Drake put back an offensive rebound with 1:02 remaining to bring the score to 69-66. When the Black Bears missed a layup with 45 seconds remaining, Drake again grabbed the rebound and found Sydney Williams on a cross-court pass at the opposite end. Williams fought through a shooting foul to convert the layup and bring the Panthers within one, down 69-68 (she would finish with 23 points and 13 rebounds). When a Drake tipped pass forced a Pisgah turnover at the other end, the stage was set for one last possession to give Franklin the lead. After the inbound pass, Drake found Tori Ensley on the left side of the arc. Rather than drive into the lane to give the Panthers a 1-point lead, Ensley decided she had seen just about enough, taking advantage of an open look to hoist a three and give the Panthers a 71-69 lead. A Black Bear missed a teammate’s pass on the ensuing possession to give the Panthers the win. After a game in which Ensley grew red-hot as the game wore on, finishing with 20 points and a whopping 15 rebounds, Hartbarger said he was not surprised by her game-winning three.
“Unbelievable,” he said after the game. “She has the confidence to take that shot, and she plays wide open. … Then we were able to stop them and get the ball back, get it in bounds, and hold on to win the game.”
Boys 0-2 to start season
As Franklin High’s girls team hit the court against Hendersonville, the Panther boys waited in the wings for their own season to begin. In a rematch of last year’s thrilling Mountain Six Conference semifinal in which Hendersonville held on to win in the final seconds, the Panthers were unable to dispatch the Bearcats.
The night started out poorly for the Panthers, as the Bearcats sunk a three just 11 seconds into the game and continued from there. The conference-champion Bearcats frustrated FHS at times with defense, playing a full court press from the opening whistle and aggressively getting hands in Panther shooters’ faces. More than three minutes elapsed before junior forward Miles McClure sank a layup to make it 9-2, but the bucket and two foul shots by senior guard Chad Wilson helped settle the game down for a few minutes. After the quarter’s designated “mask timeout,” a new addition this year in which players are given 60 seconds each period to catch their breath due to face coverings impeding players’ breathing, Hendersonville scored a quick flurry of points including eight straight from guard Keenan Wilkins to bring the score to 18-7. The Panthers answered with some offense of their own, however, led by three quick buckets from Miles McClure including a deft spin move deep in the paint for two (McClure finished with 20 points and 5 rebounds). FHS ended the quarter down 24-17.
The game’s intensity continued into the second period, as several fouls by both teams made for a slow-moving, choppy quarter. Both teams traded points until roughly halfway through the quarter, when the Bearcats got a few shots to fall to bring the score to 41-28. After the mask timeout Hendersonville continued scoring despite energetic Panther defense, while FHS couldn’t find much offense due to Bearcat defense and shots simply not falling. Hendersonville sank a three at the buzzer to go up 52-34 at the break.
After some halftime coaching by boys JV coach Tres Rogers, who filled in as the varsity coach for the night in Doug Plemmons’ absence due to medical reasons, the Panthers seemed to play with a bit more energy, but good defense by both teams slowed scoring in the half’s first minutes. After a few nice buckets by Chad Wilson (16 points, 2 rebounds) seemed to shift momentum in the Panthers favor, the Panthers ended the period down just 62-51 after trailing by 22 earlier in the quarter.
The fourth quarter started slowly for both teams, as several fouls and a slow-walked Bearcats offense caused nearly two minutes to elapse before the quarter’s first field goal. Hendersonville’s guards, led by Wilkins and Dwight Canady, continued causing problems for Panther defenders, hitting shots from long range and displaying solid quickness driving into the lane. The Panthers’ unlucky shooting night also continued into the quarter, managing just six points despite multiple looks at the basket. Hendersonville would hold on to win 76-57.
On Friday, Jan. 22, the Panthers returned to Tom Raby Court to take on the Mountain Six rival Pisgah Black Bears. The Panthers got out to a fast start in the first quarter, putting the Black Bears in an early 6-1 hole. Pisgah slowly battled back however, pulling within one at 10-9 with three minutes left. On the next possession Griffin Green hit a stepback three-pointer to put FHS up four, then broke up a Pisgah pass on the next possession. The Panthers ended the quarter up 15-13.
The Panthers came out firing in the second, getting three-point shots from Kellen Stiles and Chad Wilson to put the Panthers up 21-15. Pisgah then went on a run of their own, eventually tying the game at 27 with two minutes left. The Panthers ended the half up 29-30.
Chad Wilson would continue his solid game (11 points, 3 rebounds) to start the second half, turning in a steal and drawing a foul on the ensuing possession to put the Panthers up 32-29. The period entered a holding pattern until roughly midway through, when Trey Penland (10 points, 5 rebounds) rejected a Pisgah shot and made a nice move into the lane two possessions later to put the Panthers up 36-34. Pisgah began to gain momentum however, stringing defense and some big baskets together to end the quarter up 45-39.
The fourth quarter saw Pisgah continue their momentum, as FHS couldn’t seem to buy a basket during an 11-0 Pisgah run. The Panthers attempted a comeback after the mask timeout but were climbing out of too deep a hole, and eventually lost the game 64-49.
After the game, interim coach Jay Brooks, who will assume head coach duties in Coach Plemmons’ absence, said the team plans to work on its defensive scheme at practice this week.
“We have and will continue to work on our defensive press and positioning,” said Brooks. “The plan is to make the other team earn every point and not give up easy, uncontested shots, box out and rebound on both ends of the floor, and work hard offensively o get a great shot every possession. Scoring in transition off our defense is something we hope to do more of.”