By Staff
Kim West
Franklin County Times
EAST FRANKLIN – The East Franklin junior girls celebrated a homecoming win Monday night as the Lady Rebels raced out to a quick lead and held off Tharptown 39-35 down the stretch.
East Franklin (7-3) went to the line six times and jumped out to an 11-2 lead as Ciara Harville scored six of her 14 points during the first quarter. Harville and Mattie Benford each came up with steals and Kendra Baker satted away a shot the close the quarter.
Tharptown's lone points came on the Wildcats' first possession when Chloe Lane scored a layup after Dovie Ergle blocked an East Franklin shot attempt.
Lane scored nine of her 11 points in the second quarter, including a jumper to cut East Franklin's lead to 17-15 with less than two minutes left. But Baker responded with a lay-up and Harville had a block, steal and free throw to give the Lady Rebels a 20-15 halftime lead.
Tharptown matched East Franklin with eight points in the third quarter as Ashten Wilson scored all of the Lady Wildcats' points, including a pair of free throws that temporarily cut the lead to three points. But the Lady Rebels regained its five-point advantage when Kassy Baker converted a driving layup.
A layup by Braeden Sellers cut the lead again to three but Harville responded with two assists to Baker and Autumn Thomas to put East Franklin ahead by seven less than three minutes left in the game.
Two baskets by Elly Valdez cut the margin to 39-35, but East Franklin hung on to win as Baker hit two free throws and Harville added another in the final two minutes to seal the win.
Baker led East Franklin with a game-high 17 points, and Thomas added six points and 18 rebounds. Harville also pulled down eight rebounds.
Wilson led Tharptown with 11 points, while Sellers and Valdez each had four. Maddie Lane (2), Ergle (1) and Courttne Campbell 1) also scored for the Lady Wildcats.
Tharptown 58
East Franklin 48
Brian Prince scored 26 points as the Tharptown B-boys overcame an early East Franklin lead to win 58-48 Monday night.
East Franklin led 15-11 at the end of the first quarter, but Tharptown used balanced scoring to take a 28-27 halftime lead.
Prince and Phillip Edwards, who finished with 14 points, combined for 16 points in the third quarter to give the Wildcats' a 44-36 lead.
Rick Miller sank two free throws with 3:49 left in the final quarter to cut Tharptown's lead to six points, but the Wildcats respsonded with a 6-0 run.
During the run Prince came up with a steal and pass to Brandon Chaney for a layup, and Chaney found Anthony Gray for another easy basket. Cody Cagle added a putback to put the game out of reach at 54-42 with less than two minutes remaining.
Skeeter Benford led East Franklin with 20 points, and Brady Whitten had seven. Cory Potter and Clay Harris each finished with six points, and Evan Reeves added four.
Cagle scored eight points for Tharptown, while Jacob Davis had five. Gray (2), Chaney (2) and Kade Oxendine (1) also scored for the Wildcats.
Tharptown 46
East Franklin 28
Wade Berryman scored 24 points, including 15 points in the first quarter, and the Tharptown defense held East Franklin to only 10 second-half points en route to the Wildcats' 46-28 A-boys win Monday night.
Tharptown used a 17-7 run in the opening quarter to build a nine-point halftime advantage. The Wildcats led by as many as 21 points when Berryman pulled up and hit a 3-pointer at the top of the key to put them ahead 44-23 with less than five mintutes remaining in the game.
Eight different players scored for Tharptown. Drew Ergle tossed in nine points, while Brian Higgins had three. Justin Huddleston, Drennon Hovater, Wesley Bordon, Tyler Fisher and Justin Britnell all finished with two.
Brent Whitten and Trevor Hodge led East Franklin with seven points. Corey Alexander and Miller had six apiece, while Daniel Bragwell added two.