‘An amazing feeling.’ Explosive finish puts Franklin County girls back atop 11th Region.
After struggling to string together buckets most of the night, Franklin County erupted in the fourth quarter and left Lexington with a state tournament berth — and its head coach in tears.
Leia Hogan scored 16 of her 19 points in the final eight minutes to push the Flyers past Frederick Douglass in the 11th Region championship played Saturday night at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School.
Franklin County (29-6) will meet North Laurel, champions of the 13th Region, Wednesday night in the first round of the Mingua Beef Jerky Girls’ Sweet 16.
“Coach Thacker talked to me a lot in the locker room and said that I usually make big-time shots, and I wasn’t really doing much in the first half,” Hogan said. “What he said really inspired me.”
Joey Thacker coached the Flyers to their seventh region title in 10 years, but this one hit harder than the rest. A few weeks ago, his wife Matosha was diagnosed with cancer. It’s the second time in 11 years his family is battling the disease.
He was tender at the buzzer, and well after.
“It’s been a rough three weeks,” Thacker said. “They’ve responded to help her and love on her. A lot of these kids grew up watching us go to the state tournament and they’ve never gotten to go themselves. We’ve got like three kids on this team whose older sisters played in the state tournament. So, that matters to ’em, and it’s just a relief cause we’ve been through so much as a program in February and March.
Franklin County’s defensive effort was evident from the jump. It held a Douglass program averaging 64 points per game to just 22 in the first half; problem was, the Flyers only had 18 on as many shots.
“In the first half, I didn’t know if it was going to happen or not,” Thacker said. The third quarter didn’t help matters; his girls still trailed Frederick Douglass by four and took a 29% shooting clip into the fourth.
Enter Hogan: She hit 3-pointers on consecutive trips down the floor, the second putting Franklin County ahead 35-33, and for good. The sequence ignited a 16-0 Flyers run to open the period.
Franklin County held Douglass without a fourth-quarter point until there was 2:53 to play, and without a field goal until the 1:05 mark. Kate Baker hit a pair of 3-pointers down the stretch to get the Broncos within 51-46 with 28 seconds left but the Flyers stymied their bid at the free-throw line.
“Kids don’t get enough credit in America in 2024,” Thacker said. “They’re way more resilient than adults are. They’ve shown that with Matosha’s situation and our team’s situation. Not one time did they ever back down and say, ‘We’re not gonna go try to win this tournament because we feel sorry for ourselves.’”
Juliana Frazee had 15 points and two blocks to go along with a team-high five assists, two of them smoothly dealt to a cutting Hogan as the Flyers extended their fourth-quarter flurry. She was also matched up most of the night on Douglass star Ayanna-Sarai Darrington, a Central Michigan signee. Darrington led the Broncos with 13 points and a game-high 13 rebounds but was held to 2-for-9 shooting from the floor (she was 9-for-13 at the free-throw line).
“I just do what I can to help the team, whatever works,” Frazee said. “It’s an amazing feeling.”
Notes
▪ Frederick Douglass (23-11) was the defending 11th Region champion after winning it for the first time last year. Saturday’s game was the first meeting, postseason or otherwise, between Franklin County and Frederick Douglass.
▪ Rachel Shropshire, one of just two seniors on Franklin County’s roster, opened the game with a pair of treys and got her team off to a 7-2 start. The Bellarmine signee finished with 11 points.
▪ Thacker hit the 500-win milestone in early February. Prior to his tenure, which began in 2003, the Flyers had won a single region championship. Their run of titles includes two three-peats (2015-2017 and 2020-2022) and resulted in two runner-up finishes in the state tournament (2016, 2017).
This story was originally published March 10, 2024 at 9:26 AM.