FRANKLIN — Greenwood put a damper on Franklin-Simpson coach Cody Rich’s first home game as head coach, as the Lady Gators rolled to a 48-18 victory over the Lady Wildcats on Thursday night in Franklin.
Senior Riley Hartis scored 11 points and grabbed five rebounds to lead the Lady Gators, and the stout Greenwood defense held Franklin-Simpson to single digits through three quarters.
“It feels great to come in and take the first game,” Greenwood coach Zach Simpson said. “Also coming in and giving a defensive effort like we did tonight we thought that was a big positive we can take away. When we talked about the scouting report on Franklin-Simpson we knew they were quick off the dribble so we knew our defense had to be on point tonight and I thought we did that.”
The Lady Gators led 11-2 at the end of the first quarter and outscored the Lady Wildcats 20-1 to end the half after Franklin-Simpson had cut the lead to 15-4.
Greenwood (1-0) continued their dominance in the third quarter, and the KHSAA mandated running clock went into effect after freshman Haley Gordon nailed back-to-back free throws to extend the lead to 42-7. The Lady Gators held a 43-8 advantage at the end of the period.
Franklin-Simpson (0-2) did show some life in the final quarter after struggling the majority of the game, outscoring Greenwood 10-5 in the final eight minutes of play thanks to an 8-0 run to start the quarter.
Hartis led the Lady Gators with 11 points—all in the first half. Fellow senior Abbie Turley scored 10 points overall and nailed two three-pointers, and freshman Jacqueline Jackson tallied eight points to complement five assists.
Franklin-Simpson was led in the loss by junior Christina Carver with six points, while freshman Kate Norwood added five.
While it was a solid win for his team, Simpson says there are still some things that the Lady Gators need to work on.
“Looking forward we have to make sure we are patient,” Simpson said. “Tonight we rushed a lot of things in transition and we have to work on our patience and trusting the system that we do. The shot we take is not ‘my shot’; it’s our shot as a team and that’s the concept that we are trying to teach.”
The Lady Gators will look to pick up their second win of the season at Glasgow on Friday night against the Lady Scotties.
Meanwhile, Franklin-Simpson will look to rebound on the road at Clinton County.
