BY HATTIE FRANCIS/CONTRIBUTING WRITER
hattie.francis@gmail.com

FRANKLIN—Franklin’s Tiara Rogers scored 31 points during the Broncos’ Monday 76-51 loss to cross-town rival Southampton High School.

“We’re planning to show up and play good basketball,” said Franklin Coach Mona Sumblin prior to the game. “We need to get us a win out there, but we know this is our arch rival and it can go either way.”

The Broncos showed up early, answering everything Southampton threw at them through the first five minutes.

However, the Indians pulled away and led 17-10 at the close of the first quarter.

Southampton continued to pull further away during the second quarter, but Franklin remained aggressive. The Indians went into halftime with a 38-21 lead.

At the start of the second half, Southampton immediately committed a turnover and Franklin failed to capitalize on it.

By the close of the third quarter, the Lady Indians had solidified their win as they led 57-33.

“We played well in spots,” said Southampton Coach Aronda Bell. “We still have some things we’re trying to work on.”

“What are we going to do?” Sumblin said. “We made too many bad passes; we didn’t play defense well, but we’re just rebuilding. It’s all about trying to get better every game.”

“That’s all we can do, try and get better every game, and we hope to have something better for them when we play them again on the fifth,” she added.

Regina Artis led the Indians with 21 points, followed by Tenicia Joyner with 18 and Ronnie Powell with 15.

Franklin dropped to 0-7 overall with the loss.

The Indians improved to 4-3 overall, while remaining 3-1 in district play.

“I know people will say ‘well you won by 20 or 30; you know you should be happy.’ I am very happy, but I still see things that we need to work on,” Bell said.