Third quarter collapse ends Groesbeck season

By Putt Riddle
Special to the Journal

For a half, the Groesbeck Lady Goats matched and surpassed the play of the highly-favored Franklin Lady Lions in a bi-district game at Leon High School Monday night. Franklin the 19-3A district champion trailed after the first quarter 19-17. At the half, Groesbeck led the Lady Lions 35-34. Then the Lady Goats opened the third period making seven turnovers while Franklin took the lead for good on two treys.                                          

Groesbeck got outscored 19-4 in the third quarter. Both teams scored 14 points in the fourth quarter. Franklin moves on to play in the Area round this weekend. The Lady Lions are 31-6 for the year  Groesbeck ended its season 12-14. For Franklin coach Gary Watkins, it was his 200th win in six years at Franklin.        

There were two seniors playing in their final game for the Lady Goats, four-year letter winners Abby Johnson and Kennedy Cox. Other starters for Coach Lisa O' Kelley were sophomore Kole Tatum, junior Kyla Evans, and junior Kennedy Brown.                                             

Groesbeck had the height advantage over Franklin   That probably has been the situation for most of the year for the Lady Lions. They offset that disadvantage by shooting from behind the arc the entire game. They had 15 treys when the final buzzer sounded. They also ran the clock in a keep-away passing game when they got up 10 to 15 points in the third and fourth quarters.      Groesbeck went to the free-throw line 31 times in the game as two Lady Lions starters fouled out, Mya Booker and Macey Caldwell. The Lady Goats made 14 of those chances.                                     Evans led Groesbeck with 20 points. Cox closed with 10 points. Johnson had eight points. Tatum had six points. Brianna Dobson made three of four free throws for the game.  Other Lady Goats in the game were Tavia Anglin, Kayla Menzel, and Amiah Dunn.                                           Franklin had two 23 point scorers, Caldwell and Ciara Wade. Caldwell made six treys. Wade hit on four as she fired quickly from all over the court. Maggie Smitherman scored nine points  Booker made five points. Getting three points each were Pharon Joshua and Kaylin Ortner.