It’s been a whirlwind two weeks for Panther women’s hoops.
With six games between Dec. 22 and Jan. 5, Franklin was hard at work over Christmas break. In nonconference wins over Murphy and Andrews, Scott Hartbarger’s team tipped off the second half of their season.
“A.C. Reynolds is a very, very well-disciplined basketball team. They play very fundamentally sound, in-your-face, man-to-man pressure,” said head coach Scott Hartbarger of the Catamount Clash of Conferences at Western Carolina University Dec. 22. “[With] Union County, we didn’t play the best there. They hit a couple shots early and we kind of got down on ourselves, but we challenged [the team] at halftime and had them on the ropes a couple times down 10, down 12. If we could have just got some shots to drop in, it might have been a different story.”
After falling to Reynolds 60-19 the Friday before Christmas, the next week the team traveled to Hiawassee, Georgia, for the annual Battle of the States. In a three-day tournament hosted by Towns County High School, Franklin lost their first game to Union County, Georgia, but improved against two familiar opponents.
“At the Christmas tournament we gave really good effort and played some really good teams,” said Hartbarger. “We were able to get one win over Murphy, and lost a barnburner with Hayesville 62-60. We got out to kind of a flat start – when you’re playing three days in a row at different times it’s a challenge for us, but we have to step up and realize that we’ve got to be able to handle those different types of situations.”
After routing Murphy 59-28, on the last day of the tourney Franklin locked horns with Hayesville, whom they’d beaten 43-32 Dec. 8. There, the Yellow Jackets avenged their earlier loss, led by 17 points and 7 assists from sophomore guard Ava Shook.
Following the Christmas tournament, on Jan. 3 the Panthers traveled to Andrews for their first game of 2024. Franklin started the game red-hot from beyond the arc, getting early 3-pointers from Aubrey Haley, Audrey Pressley and Cali Queen. Queen added eight more points, a block and a steal in the first to end the quarter up 19-16.
Junior center Charley Seagle heated up to start the second, controlling both ends of the floor with four points and two big blocks. Franklin dominated Andrews in the quarter, outscoring the Wildcats 20-6 to end the half up 39-22.
Andrews regrouped to start the third, cutting Franklin’s lead to 47-37 with three minutes left in the quarter. Seagle helped keep the Wildcats at bay however, adding three more blocks to end the period up 52-42.
Senior forward Avery Moffitt looked sharp to start the fourth, posting a block and a basket before twisting her ankle and leaving the game. Despite Moffitt’s absence, Franklin controlled the final five minutes, getting two points and a steal from Pressley to win 58-47.
“Tonight I thought we played really good the first half, and kind of lazy in the second half,” said Hartbarger after the game. “We did do enough in the fourth quarter, and I was proud of our girls for getting this win tonight and getting some momentum going into Pisgah Friday night.”
After dispatching Andrews, on Jan. 5 the Panthers traveled to Canton for a Mountain Seven matchup with Pisgah. Coming off a 12-0 season in the conference last year, the Black Bears lived up to their billing, taking an early 6-0 lead despite blocks from Queen and Seagle. Queen added two assists and a nasty crossover dribble in the first, but Franklin ended the quarter down 13-6.
Back from her minor injury versus Andrews, Moffitt heated up in the second, posting six points and two steals to make it a 19-13 game. Franklin controlled the last few minutes of the half, tying the score at 20 on a Haley 3-pointer and ending the period down 24-21.
Pisgah returned the favor in the third, holding Franklin’s offense in check for long stretches. The Panthers ended the quarter down 35-26 despite an assist and a steal from Haley.
Pressley nearly sparked a Panther comeback in the fourth, posting two steals and the quarter’s first six points to make it 35-31. Pisgah held Franklin the rest of the way however, and went on to win 39-31.
With their first conference loss, Franklin dropped to third in the Mountain Seven, tying North Henderson for third behind 2-0 Pisgah and 3-0 West Henderson. The game was the first of 10 straight conference matchups to end their season, starting with a trip to North Jan. 9.