Balanced Attack Pushes Panthers Past Newton South

 
 
 FRANKLIN, Mass. — Franklin battled against foul trouble throughout the first half and couldn’t quite shake the 18th-seeded Lions of Newton South.

But with its full complement of players back in the mix in the second half, the 15th-seeded Panthers proved to have too many weapons.

Franklin had four players score in double figures and had a big second half offensively to land a 62-50 win over the Lions, advancing to the Round of 16.

“I thought we got in bad foul trouble early in the game and didn’t rebound great,” said Franklin head coach John Leighton. “When we got Lizzy [Newman] back we were able to use our height advantage a little more and got them to spread out [defensively] and then we could score in multiple ways. Mainly I thought it was our defense that improved and that was the difference.”

Newman had two fouls in the opening quarter and was forced to the bench for the rest of the half. The Panthers had seven team fouls before the second quarter started, meaning the Lions would be in the bonus for the rest of the first half.

Franklin came close to pulling away a couple of times, a quick 9-0 run to start the game that eventually turned into a 22-14 in the second quarter as Katie Peterson (15 points, six rebounds) sandwiched a pair of buckets down low around a three from Elle Bonacci (five points, four rebounds, three assists) but South closed on a 9-2 run in the last three minutes to make it a one-point contest, 24-23, at the half.

Newman (19 points, 10 rebounds) made her presence felt immediately to start the second half, cleaning up a miss for a putback. Bridget Leo (12 points, six assists) had a nice feed to Newman for a triple, and then after coming up with a steal, found Newman again for a traditional three-point play. Peterson linked up with Newman down low for two, and Newman cleaned up her own miss for two more.

“Lizzy played a great game, having her back really opened things up, having multiple tall girls out there allowed us to move some things around,” Leighton said. “You saw Chloe drive more, Bridget started to drive more, and it really allows everyone else to do more.”

A free throw from Sasha Tracey preceded a bucket from Peterson to extend the lead to nine (42-33) but Newton South’s Maddy Genser drove to the basket for a late field goal to close the gap to seven going into the fourth.

The Lions twice cut it to five early in the fourth quarter but a putback from sophomore Chloe Fales (10 points, five rebounds) and a three from Newman (off a nice extra pass from Bonacci) moved the lead back to seven. After a brief scoreless stretch, senior Caelyn Leonard had a nice pass to set up Leo for a triple and the lead finally hit double-digits, 52-42 with just under four minutes to play.

“It’s everyone contributing in the playoffs,” Leighton said. “It’s not going to be pretty, it’s never how you draw it up so I was really proud of the girls. Playoff basketball is about winning those energy plays. I thought in the first half Norah [MacCallum] came in and gave us some really good defense and then Elle came in and gave us some points right away, and had that great assist to Katie on the back door cut.”

Franklin girls basketball (17-4) will travel to #2 Bishop Feehan (17-4) for a Division 1 Round of 16 game, which is currently scheduled for Monday at 6:30.