Andrews – There was a cat fight downtown on Jan. 3, as Franklin came to town to take on the Wildcats. The Lady Panthers won the first battle against the Lady Wildcats (5-6) 58-47, but the Wildcats won the boys game 68-64.
The Lady Wildcats (5-6) fell behind the Lady Panthers (5-6) from the onset and could never get closer than a 10-point difference in the second half. Andrews kept it close in the first quarter behind Kylie Donaldson, who dropped in nine of the Wildcats’ 15 points in the first quarter, and only trailed the Panthers 19-15. That was as close as they would get to a lead in the game.
Franklin outscored the Lady Cats 20 -7 in the second quarter to build a 39-22 lead at the half. Andrews closed the gap to 10 points several times in the second half, but could get no closer.
It seemed like each time Andrews got on a run, the Lady Panthers would slam the door shut with a three-pointer or great defensive play to halt Andrews’ momentum.
Franklin went into a full-court press in the fourth quarter, which caused several turnovers for the Lady Cats. On the other end, the Lady cats weren’t allowing the Lady Panthers near the basket, either, as they gave up only six points to Franklin. The only problem was that the Lady Cats could only score six themselves, netting the final 58-47.
Donaldson led all Wildcats scorers with 21 points. Hannah Talkington was the only other Lady Wildcat in double figures with 11 points.
Boys game
When the boys game started, it looked as if it might be a repeat of the girls game, as Franklin built a 7-0 lead before the Wildcats got going about midway through the first quarter. Andrews’ offense woke up and fought back to within one point by the end of the first quarter, The game went back and forth the rest of the first half, but Franklin increased its lead to 33-30 by the break.
Matt Maennle needs to bottle and sell whatever his speech was at halftime, because it worked. The Wildcats’ defense limited Franklin’s scoring in the third quarter to 12 points, while the Cats poured in 26 points in the third period to build a 56-45 lead.
The Cats never looked back as they went on to defeat Franklin 71-64. Cam Rattler had a double-double in the game with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Three other Wildcats were in double figures, as Gabe Clark had 15 points, Ty Clark had 11 to go with nine rebounds, and Landon Green had 11 points with 5 rebounds.
The win puts the Cats at a record of 10-1 overall and 1-1 in the Smoky Mountain Conference. It set up the showdown Friday night, when the Bulldogs from Murphy come to play.