It was like a highlight reel night for Franklin's Damon Curry - 26 points, back-to-back three-pointers, a slam dunk, strong defense, big rebounds, impressive ball control, oh, and three kicks. 

Curry and fellow senior Jalen Wood put on quite the offensive show during the Knight's 71-38 victory over Rocky Grove in the closing night of the Dick Russell Memorial Tournament.  Wood hit the first bucket of the game, as Franklin went on an opening 16-3 run on the Orioles.

​He also showed off his vertical with a couple of blocked shots and finished fast breaks. Wood finished with 18 points on the night. 

Franklin's other 30 points came from eight other players, including eight from Cole Buckley and six from Damarco Payne.

Rocky Grove fields a younger, smaller team than their Venango County rival. While the Knights started five seniors and had three more come off the bench for significant playing time, the Orioles have only one senior and started three sophomores. Landen Carter, one of those sophomores, led the team with 11 points. Josh Stevenson and Noah Baughman had seven points each. Connor Ritchey came off the bench to contribute six points. 

Next up for Franklin is Cathedral Prep on Wednesday at The Castle. Rocky Grove returns to action on Friday when they host Mercer for a Region game. 

It was quite the trip to Erie County this week for the Rocky Grove girls basketball team. They took the trophy at the Iroquois Christmas Tournament, going 2-0 with wins over the homestanding team and Youngsville. 

"Such a great tournament for the whole team," second-year coach Brad Clayton said. "The girls are really coming together as a team and learning how to gel."

"We have different girls stepping up every night and they executed the game plan both nights in the tournament to near perfection." On Thursday, the team recorded a 41-26 win over Iroquois. 

In the championship game Friday, they were fueled by a 15-point second quarter and held on 29-20 victory against Youngsville.  

Senior Rae Lynn Montgomery, who scored 10 points in each game, was named the tournament’s MVP. Lydia Kennedy, who had eight points on Thursday and three on Friday, was picked for the all-tournament team. 

Also contributing to the Orioles' offensive attack was Emily Rice with 12 points in the tournament, Faith Copley and Aislynne Anderson with nine each, Paige Cresswell with five. Regular starter Zoe Cresswell, who was unable to play Friday due to an injury early in Thursday's game, had four points.

The wins put the team at 6-3 for the season so far. 

Clayton says he has seen a lot of growth in the team already this year. "They are supporting each other on and off the court," he said. "I am excited to have the privilege to be called their coach."

File photos

Oil City used a balanced attack to outlast Rocky Grove in the opening round of the Dick Russell Memorial Tournament Thursday night in Franklin. 

Franklin did the same with a commanding 81-point effort over Karns City, who scored a fair amount with 61.

Ethen Knox netted a team-high 19 points in Oil City's 59-40 victory. He was one of three Oilers to make it to double digits on the night. Fellow senior Sayyid Donald had 10 points despite finding himself in foul trouble early in the second half. 

After a slow start by both teams, it looked like Oil City might cruise to an easy victory over the Orioles.

Rocky Grove fought back from a 14-point deficit to close the gap at 28-20 at the half and made more headway in the third. Back-to-back buckets by Schiffer Anderson and Noah Baughman lowered Oil City's lead to three.

But that's as close as Rocky Grove got.

Will McMahon recorded 14 of his 15 points in the second half to help the Oilers pull away with the victory. 

Baughman had a game-high 20 points for Rocky Grove.  

​Franklin's Damon Curry was on fire early. His first three 3-pointers were nothing but net. A turned ankle did slow him down a bit, but he still scored a game-high 27 points in the effort.

It didn't take long to see that Franklin is playing on different level this season than the young Cranberry squad.

A couple of steals, a couple blocked shots and it was quickly 8-0.

Franklin wasn't really burning up the court either with only 13 first quarter points. 
​
For Cranberry, only freshman point guard Avery Coe got anything to drop in the first quarter scoring all of her team high five points in that opening frame.

​Franklin took a 13-5 lead into the second quarter and kept increasing their lead each quarter.

They also seemed to be able to steal the ball at will.

The only thing that kept the mercy rule running clock from being activated in the third quarter was sloppy shooting by the Knights who suddenly were rushing shots.

In the end Franklin had more than enough with Cranberry only mustering five fourth quarter points, The Knights rolled to a tournament opening win 51-15.

Cranberry will take on Oil City in the consolation game at 4 p.m. Thursday. It will be a rematch against Oil City, who beat them in the Rocky Grove tip-off tournament a few weeks back.

Franklin will take on Harbor Creek, who routed Oil City in the first game Wednesday. That game is scheduled to tip-off at 5:30 p.m. 

Franklin outscored Cochranton 10-3 down the stretch to secure the victory at home Thursday night.
​
The Knights were led by a strong offensive showing by Estella Adams, who had a game-high 16 points, and a commanding defensive presence by Katie Boal, who had numerous blocked shots in the paint.

It was a balanced offensive attack by the Knights in the first quarter, with baskets by Adams, Boal, Kirsten Hicks and Jenn Blum.

The team’s strong defensive rebounding kept the Cardinals from many second chances and the Knights were ahead 9-4 after the first eight minutes of play.

In the second quarter, it started to look as if the Knights were ready to walk away with the victory early, leading 20-8 before Cochranton snagged five points in the final minute of the half.

The third-quarter was the most action packed in Thursday night’s contest.

The two teams traded baskets and Cochranton came within striking distance of the lead, as they closed the gap to 35-33 with less and 40 seconds left in the quarter.

​Adams answered with two points and Franklin took the momentum into the game’s final eight minutes.

Cochranton struggled to get shots through the hoop in the fourth quarter.

​And like icing on the cake, Boal closed out her night of strong night on the boards by grabbing the final rebound as the clock ran down.

Contributing to the Knight’s offense along with Adams were Boal with 14 points, Blum with 11, Hicks with 5, Jamie Blum with two and Halle Curry with one.

​​Payton Liederbach turned in another strong performance to lead the Oilers passed the homestanding Rockets 60-29 Monday night.
​
Liederbach had a game-high 20 points, going seven for eight at the free-throw line. Teammate Sophia Garmong chipped in 15 points, despite sitting out a significant portion of the game with an injury.
 
Titusville gave the Oilers a good fight for the first quarter of the game, even taking the lead twice after battling back from 8-2 deficit. 

Addie Burleigh recorded six of her team-high seven points in the first quarter before finding herself in foul trouble. It was Burleigh’s two points at the 4:10 mark of the first quarter that gave the Rockets the lead for the first time since scoring the first basket of the game.

Liederbach answered with two of her own to snatch back the scoreboard. Burleigh scored another two points, followed by two more from teammate Kasey Krepps to grab Titusville’s biggest and final lead of the night 13-10.
​
Kaitlyn Clark answered for the Oilers with a trey to tie it up. They then cruised to a 14-point lead before the Rockets scored again on a foul shot.

The Rockets only garnered three points in the second.
​
The Oilers came out aggressive in the second quarter and by halftime were ahead 31-16. While Oil City continued to find the bucket,

Titusville struggled to make much happen in the third quarter as well only managing five points and the gap widened to 44-21.