Will Woolever
sports@thefranklinpress.com
The Franklin High School girls’ basketball is getting ready to defend its conference title.
After a successful 2019 that saw FHS secure a Mountain Six Conference championship, the team will attempt to retain its title in a COVID-19-shortened season.
“We had a really good season,” said head coach Scott Hartbarger of last year. “The girls played really well. We won the conference and then went three rounds deep in the playoffs. We lost one senior who started and we have everybody back, and we’re really excited about the upcoming year.”
With four starters returning from last year’s MSC champion, the Panthers should have no shortage of talent in 2020-21. All-MSC selections Nevaeh Tran, Canaan Drake and Tori Ensley return to help the Panthers build on a 21-7 record in 2019. Although Hartbarger expressed confidence in his players, preparation for this season hasn’t been business as usual.
“June is usually our month where we go and play travel, play other schools and scrimmage,” said the coach. “That was cut out, so it was more or less a lot of fundamental work: a lot of shooting, a lot of the things that they can do in the gym, but on their own. Because of the spacing they could only use one ball. You couldn’t share a ball, so it was a lot of ball handling, shooting and things like that they could do as an individual.”
While this summer’s COVID-19 protocols forced the team to work on individual skills instead of team drills, Hartbarger said he doesn’t believe the altered offseason will affect the team’s chemistry on the court. With this year’s truncated season, the team won’t have much time to waste.
“We are, if we stay injury-free,” said Hartbarger on whether the team was feeling confident for the season. “It’s going to be a crazy season with everything going on, so we’ll have to be ready to play every night. We have 10 conference games and then the non-conference games that we have, and then we’ll go right into the conference tournament and then the playoffs. It’s going to be quick, so they’ve got to be ready to go and play every night.”
With just 14 regular-season games on tap as opposed to the usual 24, each game takes on added importance for the Panthers this year. In addition to the extra weight of each individual game, the games are made even more vital due to strong Mountain Six competition.
“It’s always big between us and Pisgah, and also Smoky Mountain.” Hartbarger said. “Brevard had a really good team last year. They lost several good players and their coach has moved on and is not coaching anymore, so I don’t know what to expect from them. East Henderson was young last year; I think they’re still going to be young. Hendersonville will be pretty good. They have some big girls inside, but I think that when it comes down to it, Pisgah will be one we’ll have to really be ready for.”
With strong competition around the Mountain Six, the Panthers will have a tough task repeating as MSC champs this year. After seven months of uncertainty though, FHS’s players are excited to begin the season.
“I want to play so, so badly, I know we all do,” said two-time All-WNC senior Canaan Drake. “I know all the coaches are really anxious to play too. We just all want to play. We still have some really strong players and good attitude players, so I think we’re going to do pretty well.”