        | Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. You may notice that the photographs in this story are from the Franklin versus Oil City game on Monday night. We covered this game with good solid notetaking with the idea of writing a game story that night and posting it the next day. Life happened. We learned the principle of the seven Ps, that tongue twister we've known for a long time. Or so we thought. Nope. With life going on all around us and new commitments changing old schedules, a minor meltdown, reorganizing and a lot of deep breaths later, 34 realized that ... nope, still haven't quite learned the lesson. Franklin girls basketball won Monday night and again Thursday against Meadville. We know this because, after passing the Franklin buses leaving town and still holding out hope we weren't too late for the game, we learned that Meadville does not have a junior varsity squad. Therefore, the varsity game started at 6 p.m., not the usual 7:15-30. Everyone knew this but us, who decided that tradition outweighed fact and research. It came as an ironic moment for us. Earlier in the day we gave a presentation to a group of high school journalism students. Among the things addressed - the importance of honest factual reportage and being prepared with proper research to tell stories. Seriously, we talked to a group of students today about how to best cover stories. Irony is a fickle little you know what. Had we done our "Proper Prior Planning," we would've known there was no junior varsity game Thursday and the varsity game started at 6 p.m. Meadville's coach Shannon Pietroski got us caught up in the parking lot because we never made it in the door. Her growing-less-patient daughter sat in the car waiting to go home as us "olds" chatted about things we thought mattered for a few moments. The coach told me that Meadville girls basketball has eight girls on a good night. The years of the Dean Henderson coached Bulldogs dominance seemed to be over. On this night the Dawgs had six dressed players to face Franklin who is one of the top teams in northwest Pennsylvania with a 6-2 shot-blocking center Katie Boal, one of the best point guards in the business Estella Adams and the Blum twins who seem to swap games shooting lights out from all over the court, mot to mention one of the toughest athletes in any sport in Kirsten Hicks. The winless Bulldogs didn't really have a chance and the 51- 23 score could've been predicted, but Pietroski stood in the light foggy drizzle of the parking lot with her car running talking about her young team's ability to play hard and improve game after game. |
As for these photographs accompanying this tale, they were taken during a heated Route 8 rivalry as Oil City visited Franklin. The Knights prevailed 42-37, but not without difficulties.
Adams and Boal struggled, though Boal ended up as top scorer with 13 points. The missed shots allowed Oil City to stay in the game.
Franklin is a 10-plus game winner already this season as they fight for a post-season run.
Meadville is back in action as they meet up with Oil City (7-8) next week. Franklin opens a three-game home stretch on Monday when they host Corry.
Adams and Boal struggled, though Boal ended up as top scorer with 13 points. The missed shots allowed Oil City to stay in the game.
Franklin is a 10-plus game winner already this season as they fight for a post-season run.
Meadville is back in action as they meet up with Oil City (7-8) next week. Franklin opens a three-game home stretch on Monday when they host Corry.
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