FRANKLIN — Jennings County overcame a scoreless second quarter and a 13-point second half deficit to come back and defeat host Franklin 40-34 in girls basketball action Thursday night.
After that scoreless second period, the Panthers nearly pitched a third quarter shutout themselves, going on a 13-3 run and then outscoring the Grizzly Cubs the rest of the way.
What was amazing for Jennings (8-14) was that this was their fourth game in four days and they went 3-1 during the stretch with wins in the final three games.
If the Panthers were tired, they showed it only for a half.
“They can play, and the showed they can fight back,” said Jennings coach Kristi Sigler, who also said this was the first time any of her teams were held scoreless in a quarter and came back to win. “We were once held to two in a quarter and won.”
Sigler’s counterpart, Josh Sabol, was as downtrodden as she was happy.
Franklin (8-14) was playing well and looked to have this game won, but the Cubs looked like they were the ones fatigued at the end.
“How do you hold someone scoreless in a quarter and lose?” Sabol asked. “We had some girls out of the lineup, but that’s no excuse. Someone has to step up. No one did.”
When the Panther offense sputtered in the second quarter, Franklin was right there to capitalize and the Cubs did that, going on a 13-0 run in the frame.
Free-throw shooting proved critical, with Franklin making all eight free throws in the first half and its first nine overall, but then the Cubs started missing, especially when the Panthers started scoring.
And like a flip of the switch, Jennings found its rhythm in the second half and got out of its hole.
Meanwhile, Franklin fell in it.
In that second half, the Panthers outrebounded Franklin 16-6 and more importantly outscored them 29-10.
Jennings County was led by Callie Wilder with 16 points. Wilder fouled out with 1:55 to go, but the Cubs could not take advantage. A three-point play by Madi Skinner with 48.2 seconds left sealed the win.
