INDIANAPOLIS
There was a lot for Franklin girls basketball coach Walt Raines to like about Tuesday night’s game at Beech Grove.
“I felt like that was our best effort of the season,” he said. “The kids played hard and played together.”
The Grizzly Cubs took control from the start en route to knocking out Beech Grove 54-36 in a nonconference game.
“We talked about coming out and being focused on what we had to do as a team,” said Raines, whose team improved to 6-4.
“I thought the kids did that from start to finish,” he added. “This is a very satisfying win for us. The kids worked hard in practice the last two weeks and it’s starting to show some results.”
Leading 34-30, Franklin scored the final five points of the third quarter to take a 39-30 lead. The Grizzly Cubs then dominated the fourth quarter, running a lot of clock on patient possessions.
Beech Grove (5-4) committed 29 turnovers compared to 14 for Franklin.
“We took care of the basketball,” Raines said. “We did the things we wanted to do, and we kept them off balanced on defense. Beech Grove has a good team. They have nice players out there and we took care of things. We had early foul troubles and our bench came in and did a fantastic job for us.”
Franklin starting forward Elizabeth Berrones picked up two fouls early and sat out most of the first half. She finished with four fouls and was limited in action.
Sophomore guard Cami Cochrane scored 13 points off the bench for Franklin, which led 26-19 at halftime. Reserves Sarah Sullivan and Caitlin Booe each scored six points.
Sophomore guard Delanie Hill led the Grizzly Cubs with 15 points, hitting 8 of 9 free throws.
Freshman guard Cameron Cardenas was high for Beech Grove with 15 points. Freshman forward Katie Giller added 11 points and 14 rebounds for the Hornets.
The Hornets were 12 of 37 from the field, making just one 3-pointer.
