Lady Dawgs earn regular season crown, No. 1 seed

Franklin County’s varsity girls basketball team wrapped up its 2022-23 regular season hoops campaign last week with two additional wins — upending Jefferson County, 44-19, and downing Hazlehurst, 55-36.

The victories propelled the squad to an impressive 18-7 record overall, and a 10-0 unblemished run in Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 3A District 7 play.

The Lady Bulldogs took the regional regular season championship and earned a No. 1 seed in this week’s district tournament.

Finishing behind FC in the district’s 2022-2023 competition were No. 2-seed Wesson, No. 3-seed Port Gibson, No. 4-seed Jefferson County, No. 5-seed Hazlehurst and No. 6-seed Wilkinson County.

FC 44, JEFFERSON COUNTY 19

The Lady Bulldogs had few issues in dominating the Lady Tigers by outscoring the visiting team on Friday, Feb. 3 in the regular season finale played in Meadville.

Franklin County’s offense took control from the opening tip and went on scoring runs of 10-5 in the first quarter and 15-7 through the second frame to hold a 25-12 halftime advantage.

The second half proved to be more of the same with the Lady Dawgs outgaining JC, 13-2, in the third stanza and 6-5 in the final eight minutes of the contest.

Senior Ja’Kya Brown paced FC with 16 points and fellow upperclassman Niyla Wright scored 10 in the outing.

Additionally, Harmoni Porter contributed six points in the victory while DeAsia Buie and Kennedy Washington tacked on four each and Shamara Stewart and Raine Edmond wound up with two points apiece.

As a team, Franklin County only went to the free throw line 12 times and hit seven of those attempts (58.3 percent). Brown sank 5-of-8 (62.5 percent) from the charity stripe while Wright drained 2-of-4 (50 percent).

FC had previously beaten the Lady Tigers, 34-30, back on Tuesday, Jan. 17 on the road to get the season sweep over Jefferson County.

FC 55, HAZLEHURST 36

The Lady Dawgs saw four players in the line-up finish in double-digit scoring during their Tuesday, Jan. 31 road contest against the Lady Indians.

Buie led the effort with 16 points while Wright added 11 and Brown and Porter chipped in 10 each. Edmond was credited with four in the victory, Washington tacked on three and Arya Williams scored one.

Franklin County held a 10-6 lead through the first quarter and built a 26-15 bulge by the mid-game break. The second half also belonged to the Lady Dawgs due in large part to runs of 15-9 in the third frame and 14-12 in the fourth quarter.

In terms of bonus shooting, FC was 10-of-19 (52.6 percent) from the line with Buie setting an impressive 4-of-4 free-throw mark. Brown finished 3-of-6 while Porter and Wright were 1-of-2 each (50 percent) and Williams went 1-of-3 (33.3 percent). Teearlynn Faust was 0-of-2 from the stripe in the affair.

Franklin County previously won over Hazlehurst, 61-33, at home on Friday, Jan. 13.

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FC’S BROWN SCORES MORE THAN 1,000 POINTS

Franklin County senior hoops standout Ja’Kya Brown etched her name in the Lady Bulldogs’ record books after surpassing 1,000 points scored during her tenure on the team.

Brown was presented with a commemorative basketball to mark her offensive accomplishment during Senior Night festivities held on Friday, Feb. 3 in front of a capacity crowd at Bulldogs Gymnasium in Meadville.