Lady Spartans hang with Lady Cats but fall short

A EIAC battle took place at the Spartans Dome last night when Franklin County visited Connersville. The Lady Spartans held with FC for most of the game but a few late runs by the Lady Cats let them pull away to earn 14-point victory. The win is the eleventh on the season for FC and they are now 3-3 in EIAC games. Connersville falls to 1-4 in EIAC games and 8-11 overall on the season.

The Lady Spartans took a 2-0 lead with Abbie Schwartz scoring the first bucket of the game. Kassidy Schell scored for the Lady Cats, then Nicole Mears scored the next six points in the contest, putting FC up 8-2. Connersville’s Jacey Wilhelm and Sara Ruble scored pulling it back to a two-point game. The Lady Cats added five more points in the quarter and led 13-8 after one period.

The second quarter began with Connersville freshman Addison Jones knocking down a pair of free throws and Schwartz scoring to make it a one-point game. Mears landed a field goal for FC but a free throw and a Jones three pointer put the Lady Spartans up 16-15. Kiersten Schell scored for the Lady Cats and the lead bounced back and forth for the next three minutes. Tied at 20-20 FC went on a 6-0 run with Mears scoring four of those points. Jones put up two-points for CHS then Mears scored the final basket of the half and FC led 28-22.

Connersville came out in the second half and cut the lead to two within the first two minutes. Josie Rolfes pushed it back to a five-point game after hitting from deep, then Jones and Wilhelm each added two-points via the charity stripe, and Schwartz powered in a layup to give the Lady Spartans the lead. Wilhelm hit again and it was 37-34 with Connersville leading and two minutes remaining in the third period. Ka. Schell scored and started a 7-0 FC run to close out the frame with the Lady Cats back on top 41-37. Franklin County came out in the fourth quarter and extended the lead scoring four more unanswered points. Hailey Sembach stopped the FC run and the Lady Cats led by six midway through the period. The Lady Spartans soon found themselves down by 10 after two quick FC baskets and were forced to foul. The Lady Cats hit four of their six freebies and pulled away for Connersville to win the conference match 57-43. Connersville will be in action next against Pendleton Heights (9-8) next Friday. Franklin County is back in action tonight for senior night when they host Hagerstown (5-13) at 7:30.