When Franklin girls basketball head coach Ryan Justice called a timeout with 5:06 remaining in the third quarter his team had just fallen behind by 11 points. It was their largest deficit of the afternoon. He huddled this girls together on the edge of the court and looked each one of them in the eyes as he patted himself on the left side of his chest. "It has to come from here," he told them emphasizing they need to play with heart if they wanted to win this game
Unfortunately, his counter part, Conneaut Area's Christine Krankota was talking to her team as well. She was visibly pleased by her team's tenacity on defense and the 6-0 run that gave them the largest lead of the game, facilitating Franklin's timeout.
On paper the teams were very similar with nearly identical records and they split their regular season matchups both winning at home. So this meeting at Farrell High School, a neutral location, looked as though it would be a pretty evenly matched game. And it was... well, except for Conneaut's sophomore guard Lainie Harrington who had a monster game on defense and an even better game on offense scoring 20 points, several of them layups off steals.
Watching Harrington score was Franklin's defensive specialist Gabby LaJeunesse who sat helpless on the bench in street cloths and boot cast on her foot.
Conneaut had also done their homework and pestered the team's top scorer Estella Adams holding her to just two first half three-pointers. They got hands in the faces of the Blum sisters as well causing them both struggle to score.
Conneaut had also done their homework and pestered the team's top scorer Estella Adams holding her to just two first half three-pointers. They got hands in the faces of the Blum sisters as well causing them both struggle to score.
Franklin's outside shots were off the mark and often fell short of the rim. Their inside work was heavily contested by Conneaut resulting in balls that just weren't falling, being stolen or forcing jump ball after jump ball.
 |  In the end the Knight's just didn't have an answer for Conneaut's heart, their desire to win or Harrington. |
| Harrington was the game's high scorer with 20 while Hannah Brady added 11, Morgan Poff had a key seven points and Eliza Harrington and Jacqueline Detelich each added a pair.  |  |
Franklin's Katie Boal was the only one to score after Justice's third quarter timeout chat. She was the team's high scorer with seven. Adams had just six, Jamie Bloom three and Jennifer Blum, Kirstin Hicks and Hallie Curry each had two.
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