Franklin Regional girls cruise past Indiana in section opener

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, December 14, 2017 | 9:51 PM

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With a shutdown defense forcing Indiana into compliance, Franklin Regional doubled up the Indians to remain undefeated and begin section play on a high note.

Senior Isi Palamone scored a game-high 16 points and junior Jordan Yaniga added 14 as the Panthers rolled to a 70-35 victory in the Section 4-5A girls basketball opener Thursday night in Murrysville.

Whether it was halfcourt, quarter-court or full-court pressure, the Panthers (4-0, 1-0) smothered Indiana early and often with a constant flow of exertion.

“The first section game is crucial,” Franklin Regional coach Courtney Callas said. “Getting the first one under our belts is a really good feeling. The approach has been a high standard of effort when you’re on the floor. Having that effort has been a primary drive for us.”

Indiana (1-2, 0-1) was limited to one field goal in the second half, and it came late with the Panthers up by 29.

“Our defense has been super vital in all of our games,” Palamone said. “We played West Mifflin, and we were down 20 after the first quarter. We switched our defense up and ended up winning by 15. All season, that is going to be big for us because we score off our defense. We hit another gear tonight.”

Franklin Regional held Ligonier Valley to 43 points, McGuffey to 17 and West Mifflin to 50.

Indiana could only muster 13 after halftime.

“We had to learn to keep low, move around and help out on defense,” said Yaniga, the daughter of former Norwin star Steve Yaniga, who played at Lehigh. “Our help defense wasn’t as strong at the beginning of the year, but it progressed.”

Jordan Yaniga missed most of last season with a torn ACL.

The first half saw the teams trade scoring runs. Up 8-7, Franklin Regional scored 14 straight points to take a 22-7 advantage.

With the Panthers ahead 31-9 after a short jumper by Yaniga, Indiana went on a 9-0 spurt to cut the margin to 13 (31-18) late in the second quarter. But Indiana, which has only one senior, petered out and Franklin Regional kept up the pressure.

The lead never dipped below 13 in the second half as the Panthers limited drives to the basket and Indiana did most of its scoring from the foul line. The Indians connected on 9 of 11 foul shots in the third quarter but could not manage a field goal.

“Our main focus has been defense, and we have the personnel to press and do it consistently,” Callas said. “Teamwide, we feel we have really competitive kids who are athletic enough and have that basketball IQ …. to cause points off the turnovers. That is something we haven’t be able to do that in the past, but it’s something we’ve become good at.”

Kaitlyn Carr drained a 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter to stretch the lead to 20 points, at 51-31.

Indiana made the last hoop of the second quarter but did not make another field goal until the 3:30 mark of the fourth.

Courtney Giles and Hannah Turacey scored nine apiece for the Panthers. Giles made a pair of 3-pointers.

Sara Zimmerman and Haleigh Zimmerman tied a team high with 10 points apiece for Indiana, which beat Franklin Regional in last year’s section opener 56-48.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at bbeckner@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BillBeckner.

Tags: Franklin Regional, Indiana