Belgreen junior high girls’ and boys’ basketball teams win Franklin County Tournament titles

The Belgreen High School ninth-grade girls’ and boys’ basketball teams won the Franklin County junior high basketball tournament hosted by Tharptown on Saturday, December 21st. The Bulldog teams twice defeated East Franklin to earn the silverware and take county bragging rights for a whole year.

The girls’ basketball championship was played first. Belgreen head coach Chad Green said for the younger players, the county tournament is the biggest competition of the season.

“It’s really big for the kids. It’s like their state tournament,” Green said. “We have an early, opening tip-off tournament and we have a lot of regular season games, but (the Franklin County tournament) is really what you’re working for all year long, so that’s their state title.”

Led by 10 total points from Kiera Smith, the Lady Bulldogs, who went 15-1 this year, took it to the Lady Rebels early, outpacing East Franklin 19-7 in the first quarter. Neither team found the basket often in the second period—the Lady Rebels led that period 3-2. But Belgreen found its stride again after the halftime break, scoring 13 points to East Franklin’s three. Belgreen’s Marlie Terry scored five of her eight total points in the third. The final period of play looked much like the second with East Franklin slightly outscoring Belgreen 8-6, but it wasn’t enough for a Lady Rebels comeback as the Lady Bulldogs captured the 40-21 victory.

“At the first of the game we started off strong. We hit a couple of big shots early: Kayla Canelas hit a three-point shot and then Kiera Smith hit a three-point shot; and we got a couple of steals and lay-ups, so we jumped up to a 10-0 lead in the first minute and a half of the game, and we felt good about that,” Green said. “After halftime we came back out and got us a quick little burst again. That definitely helps your momentum in the ballgame when you can get that.” 

Kylee Santiago led runners-up East Franklin with 10 points and Bailey Jewell ended with eight points. The Lady Bulldogs’ Elisabeth Davis scored seven points and both Kayla Canelas and Alexa Gault finished with six points in the win.

Green said he was proud of his team for winning the game, but he also expressed his satisfaction in how the players have progressed throughout the season.

“What you’re doing in junior high is you’re developing for one day to play at the varsity level, so we’ve got several girls at the junior high level that’s definitely improved from the beginning of the year to the end of the year,” he said. “That’s what’s so good about coaching junior high—you see so much improvement from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

“They get in there and they work. They work during P.E. time, they work after school and so hopefully (winning the tournament) will give them motivation going ahead,” Green added. “They’re a good little group and fun to coach.”

The boys’ championship bout between Belgreen and East Franklin was a tighter affair with the Bulldogs coming out with a 49-41 win.

Like his coaching colleague Green, Belgreen boys’ head coach Will Bonner said his team was motivated to compete in the championship game and proud to pull out the victory.

“These guys, they won the county last year in eighth grade, so that’s all they talked about this year was being able to do it again,” Bonner said. “It’s a really good group of kids. They’ve been playing together forever, but they just really know how to play together.”

The Bulldogs, competing with a squad limited to six players, jumped out to a 16-12 lead to start the contest; Andrew Enriquez, with two three-points in the opening period, led Belgreen by scoring six of those points. East Franklin, however, rebounded with another 12-point second quarter and held Belgreen to eight points, sending the game into halftime tied 24-24.

Coming out of the intermission, Belgreen nearly doubled East Franklin’s total in the third period, outscoring the Rebels 15-8. Leading 39-32 heading into the final period of play, the Bulldogs iced the game by scoring 10 more points, one more than the Rebels could manage, to win the game by eight.

“It was pretty much a back-and-forth game,” Bonner said. “Our guys were very tired. We only had six guys and we got into foul trouble a little bit at the end. I think our pressure—we pressed the whole game. I think our pressure really affected (East Franklin).

“We beat them early on in the year, and then we went and played them at their house and they beat us there; so, I think our guys were hungry to play them again and try to win the county,” Bonner added.

Enriquez ended the game as Belgreen’s top scorer with 15 points. Rush Berryman and Colton Ashton both finished with 12 points for the Bulldogs, while Miguel Cordoba scored 10 points. East Franklin’s Miles Duboise was the game’s joint top-scorer matching Enriquez’s 15 points. Braxton Downey added 10 points for the Rebels in the defeat.

Bonner felt a big reason for Belgreen’s success in the county tournament was his team’s work ethic, which has led to vast improvement this campaign.

“We’re working to get better for varsity, we’re working on player development and things like that,” he said. “These guys have made a major stride from the beginning of the year to now. Our record, I don’t think, was the greatest, but I think the work they’re putting in every day at practice shows why these guys could win the county and why these guys are gonna be successful when they get older.”