ROGERS — Taylor Strickland’s absence from King Arena allowed another player to step to the forefront Tuesday night.
Sydney Franklin welcomed the opportunity, but there was a slight problem. She was a member of the visiting team.
PREP BASKETBALL
NONCONFERENCE GIRLS
WEST FORK 54, ROGERS HIGH 46
West Fork 19 11 10 14 — 54
Rogers 8 11 18 9 — 46
West Fork (4-2): Franklin 30, Griffin 15, Quinton 9.
Rogers (1-1): James 14, Hawley 13, Trexler 6, Warren 6, King 3, Ganoung 2, Davis 2.
Franklin, a 5-foot-8 senior guard, scored a game-high 30 points and led West Fork to a 54-46 victory over Rogers High in nonconference girls basketball action.
“This was a confidence booster for us,” West Fork coach Nathan Wells said. “We know we have a good team. And of course, Rogers didn’t have the Strickland girl and that made a difference.
“But I was proud of our girls for hanging in there. Sydney Franklin had a great game for us, and things went a little bit haywire out there. We settled in late and were able to make better decisions to close it out.”
Franklin scored her team’s final 10 points and helped West Fork (4-2) withstand a wild second-half comeback attempt. The Lady Tigers had owned a 37-19 cushion on Kara Quinton’s 3-pointer with 6 minutes in the third quarter, but Rogers (1-1) outscored the Lady Tigers 17-3 and pulled within 40-37 to start the fourth quarter.
Libby Ganoung’s basket with 7 minutes, 45 seconds remaining pulled the Lady Mounties within one, but it was as close as they could get. West Fork then scored 11 of the next 13 points — eight by Franklin — to put the game away.
“The thing I learned over the course of the years is when somebody beats your butt, you’ve just got to tell them ‘good job,” Rogers coach Preston Early said. “So credit West Fork. Number four (Franklin) was fantastic.
“I mean she was the best player in the gym. She controlled the game, and everything ran through her. I thought she was the X factor.”
Rogers’ only lead came Samantha Warren’s putback in the opening minute. West Fork then ran off 11 unanswered points and went on to take a 19-9 lead after one quarter and 30-19 at halftime.
Katie Griffin had 15 points and Quinton added 9 to close out West Fork’s scoring. MacKinzie James led Rogers with 14 in the absence of Strickland, the recent Missouri-Kansas City signee who was out of town, while Hannah Hawley chipped in 13.