KP Girls Basketball Trounced By Franklin

Going into the game, it was evident that the Franklin Panthers were poised to be a huge challenge for the Warriors. As an undefeated team, very few teams have been able to mount a challenge against the Panthers.

“They have won numerous state championships in the past five years, and they got it. They got it together and they know what they’re doing,” King Philip head coach Megan Barry said.

The Panthers blew by the Warriors 49-33.

A slow start by the Panthers kept the Warriors in the game early on. Quick putbacks by the Panthers gave Franklin the points they needed to take a 12-6 lead over the Warriors after the first quarter.

Erin Fennessy worked the low post during the first half for some quick points against the Panthers. Mixing it up a bit, Fennessy even nailed some outside shots for nine first half points.

“She had some good solid post moves and she’s very versatile,“ Barry said.

The cold start was soon broken in the second quarter with a 15-4 run by the Panthers at the start of the quarter. Of note was how no one person took over the game but rather it was a team effort in the truest sense.

The Panthers are not your typical powerhouse of one or two top players with a solid supporting cast. With only one player hitting double digits points, the Panthers got baskets from all but one member of the team to quickly rack up points and take a 27-13 lead at halftime.

McKenna McMorrow tried to keep the deficit from inflating with a few quick shots during the third quarter. McMorrow ended the game with six points all in the third.

“She’s a sophomore who’s going to be with varsity for another two years and she’s showing a lot of promise and potential,” Barry said

Resorting to the three cut the lead down a little bit as the Warriors were prepared to do anything to try to get baskets against one of the better teams in the area.

“We try to balance. We took a lot of layups and unfortunately we weren’t making a lot of them so we started taking some more outside shots and some of them were falling,” Barry said.

Franklin’s Alicia Kutil was the game’s leading scorer with 15 points and nine rebounds. Kaitlin Copponi contributed nine points for the Panthers. Fennessy was the Warrior’s leading scorer with nine points

The Panthers remain undefeated at 14-0 overall and 10-0 in league play. The Warriors fall to 5-11 overall and 2-8 in league play.

KP will return to the court on February 3 then they host Mansfield at 6:30pm.