CC falls to Franklin after topping WP in Region A

“You pray a lot,” Charles City coach Andre’ Jones said in response to how to successfully defend against Franklin’s top-seeded Broncos. But his Lady Panthers needed more than divine intervention in their Region A basketball semifinal encounter.

Franklin turned the Feb. 28 clash in West Point’s gym into a rout early on and had no trouble cruising into the final with an 80-56 win.

“They’re number one in the state,” Jones said. “I told our girls we didn’t have anything to lose. Our seniors played their butts off and two girls up from JV came in and played hard, but no one else joined them. We work hard, but we just don’t work hard all the time.”

Work ethic, however, could not overcome match-up problems personnel-wise. Franklin held a distinct size advantage under the boards and utilized a guard trio that proved to be a step or two quicker on the perimeter.

Then the Broncos employed a defense aimed at slowing down Lady Panther leading scorer Jolisa Williams. Williams had to contend with a defender in her face along with foul problems that forced her to sit out several minutes of the first half.

Williams scored on a fast break lay-in to knot the game at 2-2, but that was the game’s only tie and lone Lady Panther shot out of 13 attempts to fall in the opening quarter. Franklin finished the quarter with a 12-0 run and never looked back.

Franklin’s defense held Charles City below double figures until Shana Braxton’s shot just over three minutes into quarter two made it a 24-10 contest. Franklin then answered with a 15-0 run to up the advantage to 39-10.

The Lady Panthers staged their best surge of the night to close out the first half. Amanda Adkins pumped in seven straight points and Joy Wynn went 4-for-4 from the foul line to key an 11-3 run, but the Broncos still managed a comfortable 42-21 margin at the break.

Shana Brown’s trey to open the third quarter reduced the deficit under 20 for the final time. By the quarter’s close, the Broncos had doubled the margin again at 64-32.

Williams, who was named to the All-Region A second team, finished with 21 points while Wynn and Adkins tossed in 11 and 10, respectively. Toni Harris, up from JV, scored seven followed by four from Braxton and three from Brown.

“Now we’ll have to get ready for next year,” said Jones, whose team finished 13-10.

The Lady Panthers lose three seniors, including Williams, but eight of the returning players from their Region A roster are freshmen or sophomores.

“We’ll be young next year,” Jones said, “but we’ll have some experience so that will be good.”