Frankfort girls drop two at East Fairmont Classic
SHORT GAP - The Frankfort Lady Falcons started the season with seven straight victories, then came their first defeat, a six-point 57-51 loss to sectional rival Petersburg.
Things didn’t get any easier with back-to-back games against Ripley and Winfield in the sixth annual East Fairmont Classic over the weekend.
Frankfort would fall in both games against their class AAA opponents, losing to Ripley 58-43 on Friday, and Winfield 65-54 on Saturday.
“I was real disappointed, I’ve got to be honest with you. We fought the whole time, and we were playing above our head against two schools with about 1,000 students each. But that’s no excuse for losing, because we were in those games, we really were,” Frankfort coach Steve Willison stated.
According to Willison, “If we can take anything out of it, we learned that we can play with those teams. They showed heart and they didn’t give up the whole time. It was disappointing because we were in both games, if we had done better in a few areas, we could have won them.”
Ripley gained a 14-11 in the first quarter, then the two teams each scored 10 points apiece in the second quarter. The end result was a close, three-point, 24-21 Ripley advantage at intermission.
In the second half, an 18-13 Ripley advantage in the third frame gave them an eight-point, 42-34 lead entering the game’s final quarter. In that final stanza, Ripley again held an advantage over the Falcons, this time 16-9, resulting in the 58-43 Ripley win.
“We matched up poorly against Ripley. They started four guards, and the one guard was 5’11’. It was hard for us to matchup, that’s why we played a lot of zone. The one-three-one zone worked really well against them in the first half, but they adjusted to it in the second half,” Willison stated.
According to Willison, “It just didn’t work out the way we wanted it, that’s about all I can say about that.
Ripley was led in scoring by three players with double figure tallies. Sophie Nichols led the way with 19 points, McKenna Hall was next with 17 points, and Kyanah Baldwin third with 10 points. In addition, Morgan Shanklin added seven points, Erin Ryan four points, and Corbin Casto two points.
In the loss, Frankfort was led in double figures by Halley Smith with 17 points, and Larae Grove with 14 points. In addition, Emily Smith added six points, Grace Scott four points, and Arin Lease two points.
Then came game two and the 65-54 loss to Winfield.
Frankfort actually gained a close, two-point, 12-10 advantage over Winfield at the end of the game’s first quarter. The second quarter, however, belonged to the Generals by a tally of 17-10, giving Winfield a five-point, 27-22 lead at halftime.
In the second half, Winfield used a 17-14 advantage in the third quarter to take a 44-36 lead into the game’s final frame. In that final quarter, both teams were their most productive, with Winfield edging Frankfort 21-18 to earn the 65-54 victory.
“It was a much closer game with Winfield. They had just played North Marion the night before, and were winning at halftime. North Marion ended up beating them by 10, so they came into the game with us really wanting to win, and of course, we were in the same boat,” Willison explained.
“We played them well. We played them basically even right up until about three minutes to go in the game. We were within two points with about three minutes left, then they made a couple shots and we missed a couple shots. We need to learn to win those games at the end,” Willison stated.
Winfield was led in scoring by three players with double figure tallies. Meagan Taylor led the way with 18 points, followed by Kennedy Schilling with 17 points, and Antonella Johnson with 10 points. In addition, Kennedy Dean added eight points, Kaitlyn Soyre six points, Jenna Briscoe four points, and Mianna Oglesby two points.
In the loss, Frankfort was led in scoring by three players tallying double figures. Halley Smith led the way with 16 points, followed by Arin Lease with 15 points, and Larae Grove with 10 points. In addition, Emily Smith added seven points, and Grace Scott six points.
Willison gave the following assessment of his team, “We need to improve. I don’t want to be one of those teams that just beats the teams we’re supposed to beat, but if someone is equal or a little better than us, we can’t pull it out. We need to work on ball control, and we need to trust in our offense and not just take shots.
According to Willison, “After coming off those three games, we have a really good team in Trinity Christian coming up on Friday. I feel much better playing them after having played these three tough games in a row.”
Frankfort (7-3) was originally slated to host county-rival Keyser on Tuesday. Inclement weather, however, forced the postponement of that contest to Jan. 29. The Falcons will next host Trinity Christian of Morgantown on Friday in a key regional matchup.
This article originally appeared on Mineral Daily News-Tribune: Frankfort girls drop two at East Fairmont Classic
