Pisgah girls' win streak ends at Franklin
Jan. 26—Pisgah's varsity girls basketball team dropped a Mountain Seven Conference road game at Franklin on Tuesday by a score of 69-56.
"I feel bad for our girls," PHS Head Coach Brandon Holloway said. "I thought they came out and were focused and probably wanted this too much, as far as the stress and the amount of pressure they put on themselves."
The Bears entered the game in first place in the conference with a 5-1 mark with the only loss coming to the Panthers in December. A Pisgah win on Tuesday would've set Franklin back two games in the standings, but the loss evened the teams at the top with two losses each.
"I tried to get them to relax and understand that we didn't have the pressure, and that they did," Holloway said. "I think our intensity was there, but give credit to Franklin. They did make their shots. They shot close to 50% and we shot not even 30%, like 29%."
Franklin's zone defense allowed the Bears to get open shots from outside throughout the game, but for the most part, Pisgah struggled to convert.
The Bears had some success with their full-court press, forcing several turnovers in key spots, but the Panthers were able to get out in transition after missed shots to build and protect their lead.
"I've gotta do a better job of, defensively, getting us in places and positions to make us more successful and get more stops and I didn't do that last night," Holloway said.
The Bears were missing two post players due to injury and sickness and the two that Pisgah did have got in foul trouble early. Franklin senior center Sydney Williams had a big night, finishing with a game-high 23 points.
Pisgah forced several early turnovers to jump out to a 7-2 lead. But three quick fouls on the Bears sent Franklin to the line where they knocked down six free throws to go up 8-7. From there, the first quarter was back and forth and ended with a 15-15 score.
The Panthers opened the second quarter on a 14-2 run to go up 29-17, but Pisgah senior wing Emma Deaver and sophomore point guard Dot Mills answered with back-to-back threes to quickly cut the 12-point deficit in half.
Franklin pushed its lead back to nine by halftime.
Midway through the third, after Pisgah junior forward Chloe Burch drew a charge, junior forward Maddie Rhea finished a tough layup through contact and hit the free throw to make it 38-33.
But again, Franklin answered and led 49-39 going into the fourth.
The Bears continued to battle and came within six at 55-49 with 3:40 to play when Deaver picked off an inbound pass and immediately laid it up, forcing a Franklin timeout.
But the Panthers responded one last time, hitting enough free throws down the stretch to come away with the 13-point win.
"We knew it was going to be a challenge. We knew we were gonna get their best shot, and we did," Holloway said. "I wish they could've got our best, as far as execution. Our effort was there."
Deaver made three threes in the game and finished with 15 points to lead the Bears. Sophomore wing Alyssa Smith contributed 11 while Mills and Rhea added nine apiece.
Pisgah has a quick turnaround as they host East Henderson in a girls-only makeup game on Wednesday.
On Friday, the Bears host West Henderson in another key Mountain Seven matchup. The varsity girls are slated to tip at 6:30 p.m. followed by the varsity boys.
