|
|
Franklin
Monroe senior Claire Neiswander found herself in no man's land
Tuesday at
National Trail as Paige Thompson (right) and Tiffany Jordon
(left) had her trapped
on the baseline. The Lady Jets tripped in the
fourth quarter, scoring just four points, losing the
CCC contest to the
Blazers, 49-39. CNO photo by Dylan Knoop
|
|
Lady Jets
tripped up by National Trail
By George Starks
NEW PARIS- Franklin Monroe coach Gavin Spitler watched a close game,
that was in reach, slip away in one fail swoop.
That being the fourth quarter.
Trailing by a 37-35 score heading into the fourth quarter, Spitler
watched his defense fall apart and his offense struggle. In eight
minutes time, Franklin Monroe could put just four points on the board,
all from the charity stripe. Spitler saw a two point deficit become a
10 point Cross County Conference loss Tuesday, falling to National
Trail, 49-39.
“There was about a one minute span where we gave up two offensive
rebounds on free throws and they scored five points,” said Spitler. “At
that point, it was either tied or we were down by one and they got to
the free throw line and missed their free throw, got the rebound and
put it back. They came down, we fouled them again and I think they hit
a free throw, missed the second one, got the rebound, kicked it out for
a three pointer. At that point, they were up by six or seven points and
they started stalling the ball.”
When the Jets were able to get a good look and pull the trigger, the
shots just weren’t falling.
“Honestly in the second half, we couldn’t make shots,” Spitler
admitted. “We couldn’t get great shots in the second half the way we
did in the first half. When you’re leading scorer (Taylor Robins) is on
the bench in foul trouble, it hurt us because she was taken out of the
game.”
Trail opened up the game on an 8-0 run but then it was Haley Gray that
took the reins.
Gray nailed two treys and the Jets were right back in it.
At the end of the first frame, the Jets trailed 12-10, largely in part
to Gray’s shooting.
That hot hand for the Jet senior continued in the second stanza as
Franklin Monroe went into the break, up 28-27.
Gray led that charge with 16 points and finished the night with 21 to
lead all scorers.
“She played a great game and hit her open shots,” said Spitler. “She
kept us in the game offensively. We didn’t execute defensively down the
stretch. They wanted the ball more than we did and they kind of took it
to us in the paint. We didn’t do a good job of rebounding the ball at
all. If we rebound, it’s a different ballgame. We had too many
turnovers and we have to get a grasp on that. We weren’t strong with
the basketball.”
Franklin Monroe fell to 9-10, 6-4 CCC with the loss and will close out
the regular season at home Thursday with Ansonia.
In the junior varsity game, freshman Morgan Bingham dropped in two
clutch free throws with 4.5 seconds remaining to help boost the Jets to
a 39-37 victory.
|
|
|
|
