The postseason is underway for Panther varsity hoops.
Having both finished their regular seasons at second place in the conference, on Valentine’s Day Franklin’s men’s and women’s teams tipped off the Mountain Seven Tournament. With wins over North Henderson and Tuscola, both teams advanced to the conference semifinals Feb. 18.
Women
In ending the regular season with a conference record of 9-3, second only to 12-0 Pisgah, the Panthers earned the right to host a first-round game. With Pisgah enjoying a first-round bye Franklin drew the conference’s lowest seed, the seventh-ranked 0-12 North Henderson Knights.
Just one week after breaking a Panther single-game record with eight 3-pointers at West Henderson Feb. 7, senior McKenna Plemmons came out firing once again, sinking three more in the opening minutes. On defense the Panthers racked up eight steals to end the quarter up 25-4.
Anna Stiles heated up to start the second, posting three points and her second steal of the game. Katelyn Foster scored the last four points of the half to lead 37-11 at the break.
Aubrey Haley turned red-hot in the third, racking up seven points and two steals. Plemmons added eight points including two more 3-pointers to end the quarter up 61-16. Payton Baty posted five points in the fourth to win 68-25.
“Just to get ready for next week,” said Plemmons of the key to Friday’s game. “We definitely needed to move the ball pretty well, and I think we did that. Everybody got involved, so that’s always good.”
When three-time All-Conference guard Cali Queen severely injured her knee this fall, Plemmons was thrust into an even bigger leadership role, especially with four underclassmen in Franklin’s backcourt lineup. With 53 3-pointers and counting, the senior has more than answered the bell, accounting for more than half of the team’s 98 and stretching the floor for opposing defenses. In breaking Hall of Famer Lindsay Simpson’s FHS record of six in a game, Plemmons said she just wanted to help her team win.
“I’m feeling very excited,” she said of owning the FHS record. “It makes me happy to see my hard work paying off a little bit, and just to be able to do it in an important game made me happy.”
In routing North the Panthers improved their record to 15-9 overall, advancing to the conference semfinals Feb. 18. There they’ll host West in the rivals’ third meeting this year, having both won on each other’s home floors in the regular season.
“I think right now we’re peaking at the right time; at least, I hope we are,” said head coach Scott Hartbarger after the game. “We’ve won five in a row, and played well. We’ve got a big test here Tuesday night with West again, and I’d like to think that we would have a little bit of an advantage at home. I’m just really proud of our girls, the way they’ve worked, and the way they’ve bounced back from adversity. At the beginning of the year we lost a couple close games, but we didn’t hang our heads – we came back to practice to work the next day.”
Men
Having ended the regular season with a 10-2 in the conference, second only to 12-0 East Henderson, the Panther men also earned the right to host a first-round game. In entering the tournament at 19-4 overall, head coach Doug Plemmons credited his team for a strong campaign.
“I’m really, really proud of this team – they’ve reached almost every benchmark that we’ve put in front of them,” said Plemmons. “Really the only blemish on our record as far as goals are concerned is the fact that we haven’t been able to beat East Henderson, but nobody else has either, yet. I think they’re 22-0 or something, but we’re hoping to get at least one more shot at them in the conference finals. We’ll be paired away from them in the tournament, so if we win our our side of the bracket and they win their side of the bracket, then we’ll meet them in the championship here in Franklin’s gym. That would be an awesome way to finish up the regular season conference-wise and then move into the playoffs.”
After their female counterparts’ rout over North, the Panther men took the court to face seventh-place, 0-12 Tuscola. There Jack Teesateskie shot out of the gate in the first, racking up 13 points and three steals. Will Rauers added a pair of 3-pointers to end the quarter up 22-10.
The Mountaineer defense regrouped in the second, holding Franklin to just eight points. Teesateskie and Max McClure each posted two points, an assist and a steal to end the half up 30-23.
Teesateskie continued an excellent game in the third, posting 10 more points and two more steals. The junior helped Frankin rebuild their lead to 51-31. McClure added 12 points and a steal in the fourth to win 70-53.