Girls' hoops beat Lady Hornets, upended by Lady Panthers

Franklin County’s varsity girls basketball team cruised to a 52-30 win over Loyd Star at home on Friday, Dec. 9 and dropped a 59-18 heartbreaker to Morton on the road Tuesday, Dec. 6.

The split decisions saw Franklin County settle at 5-5 on the basketball season with only a handful of contests remaining before the Christmas break.

FC 52, LOYD STAR 30

For the second time this season, FC’s Lady Bulldogs downed the Loyd Star Lady Hornets last week — outscoring the visiting team in all four quarters of hoops action.

FC opened the contest with a 12-6 run through the first frame and outpaced Loyd Star, 17-15, before the mid-game break.

After intermission, the Lady Dawgs went on a 13-6 offensive spurt in the third and to a 10-3 lead through the final eight minutes of the game.

Two FC players split top-scoring honors with Ja’Kya Brown and DeAsia Buie accounting for 15 points apiece.

Brown scored 11 in the first half including a three-pointer in the second frame and went 4-of-9 from the free throw line.

Buie accounted for seven first-half points and eight after intermission while going 3-of-6 from the stripe.

Harmoni Porter finished her night with nine points, which included a second-half three-pointer and a 2-of-5 performance from the line.

Niyla Wright chipped in eight points off three field goals and a 2-of-2 charity shot effort.

Arya Williams and Saiyon Harris scored two points apiece and Raine Edmond added one on a 1-of-2 free throw shooting attempt.

Franklin County previously defeated Loyd Star, 46-36, back on Thursday, Nov. 17 in Lincoln County.

MORTON 59, FC 18

Franklin County had few, if any, answers in its road loss to Morton last week by falling 59-18 — the Lady Bulldogs’ widest margin of defeat by an opponent this season.

Morton led at intermission by a 29-4 margin with Brown and Buie scoring FC’s lone points in the first quarter.

From there, Morton overran Franklin County 19-0 in the second quarter, 17-11 in the third and 13-3 in the final frame.

The Lady Dawgs charged back in the third with 11 points as Buie scored four, Porter added three and Brown and Wright had two points each.

FC’s lone points in the fourth quarter came from Porter, who had a field goal and a free throw.

As a team, the Lady Bulldogs went 4-of-14 from the charity stripe as Porter finished 2-of-4, Brown was 2-of-6 and Buie was 0-of-4.

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UPCOMING GAMES

The varsity girls’ basketball team was slated to face Natchez at home on Friday, Dec. 16 before traveling to Summit on Saturday, Dec. 17 for the Lions Club Classic at Southwest Mississippi Community College.

The team will travel to face Amite County on Monday, Dec. 19 and will not play again until after Christmas.
FC was scheduled to play on Tuesday, Dec. 13 at home against Lawrence County, but results were not available at press time.

A summary of that contest will appear in next week’s edition of The Franklin Advocate.