Franklin dominates on Senior Night

Fayetteville was cruising on Senior Night when the girls were reminded there was a junior who wanted in on the fun as well. "Give it to her, give it to her," Fayetteville coach Vic Rimmer said in reference to center Jasmine Franklin. The Lady Bulldogs followed direction as Franklin finished with 23 points to lead Fayetteville to a 73-39 victory over Springdale in 7A-West Conference action on Tuesday. Franklin left the game with the other Fayetteville starters barely into the fourth quarter when the Lady Bulldogs went ahead 67-35. The victory clinched a share of the conference championship and a No. 1 seed for the Class 7A State Tournament at Van Buren next week. Fayetteville (26-2, 13-0) can clinch the title outright and finish league play unbeaten for the first time since 2009 with a victory at Van Buren on Friday. "We want to be outright conference champions, plus we're playing on the state tournament floor," Fayetteville coach Vic Rimmer said. "Van Buren is really good, but we want to play well at the state tournament site as well." Franklin's performance came after she had 16 points and 12 rebounds in a 67-44 victory over Springdale Har-Ber. She was even more effective with 23 points and 15 rebounds in the victory over Springdale High. "Once they started feeding me the ball it all worked out," Franklin said. "We play well together. The girls know if I can't finish the shot I'll pass it back out." Franklin scored 14 points in the first half when Fayetteville led by as much as 15 points. But there was a stretch where Fayetteville started to settle for outside shots when it was obvious Springdale could not handle the 6-foot-1 Franklin underneath. After Rimmer called timeout for a reminder, Lauren Holmes fed Franklin for an easy basket to put Fayetteville ahead 30-15 with 4 minutes, 41 seconds left in the first half. "Our kids weren't taking bad shots, those (threes) were open shots," Rimmer said. "But the best shots we had was giving Jasmine the ball in the post. Springdale had no match up for Jasmine and we wanted to take advantage of it." Franklin added seven points in the third quarter when Fayetteville increased its lead to 61-35. Holmes finished with 12 points for Fayetteville while Marquesha Davis scored 12 to lead Springdale. Boys Fayetteville 40, Springdale 32 Fayetteville opened the second half with a 9-0 spurt to defeat Springdale in a low-scoring game. Caleb Finney scored 13 points to lead Fayetteville, which outscored Springdale 9-4 in the third quarter after the teams were tied 16-16 at halftime. Carl Fitch scored 11 points to lead Springdale.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Fayetteville High School Athletics

FRANKLIN DOMINATES ON SENIOR NIGHT

RICK FIRES

Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette | 2/22/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Andy Shupe