CRYSTAL SPRINGS – Dominating! That’s just one of the many wordsused to describe the Crystal Springs Lady Tigers Friday night aftera 50-16 win over the Franklin County Lady Bulldogs. The Lady Tigersheld Franklin County scoreless for 20 minutes.

In the boys game, the Bulldogs shocked the Tigers 58-57 behindjunior guard Bobby Henderson’s 20 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists and2 steals.

The Lady Tigers (12-5, 6-2) used the services of 5-9 seniorplaymaker Ebony Jenkins to coast to a smooth 22-0 first-quarterlead. Jenkins, a Southern Mississippi signee, scored 10 of hergame-high 14 alone in that quarter off numerous steals andrejections.

In the second frame, the Lady Tigers continued their shutoutshowcase by outscoring the Lady Dawgs (0-18, 0-8) 12-0. FranklinCounty committed 18 turnovers in the first half.

“We couldn’t buy a basket in the first half,” said Lady Dawgscoach Albert Cain. “Turnovers really hurt us and that’s been theproblem the entire season.”

That problem continued into the third quarter until the 3:52mark when Lady Dawg junior Yolonda Felton saved the Lady Dawgs fromthe history books with a wide open trey. Crystal Springs ended thethird leading 44-6.

“We played good tonight,” said Lady Tigers coach Julia Jointer.”Our defense really helped us in the first half. Overall, this gaveus a chance to play our younger girls in the second half.”

Leading Jointer’s Tigers was Jenkins with 14 points, 5 rebounds,3 steals and 2 blocked shots. Senior forward Stacey Lee accountedfor 10 points, 10 boards and two steals.

For the Lady Dawgs, junior small forward Dedire Gant led with 10points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals and two blocked shots.

The Dawgs (6-11, 4-4) used their dynamic two-guard tandem ofjunior Bobby Henderson and Timmy Green to set the tempo of the gamewith a 10-0 lead in the first three minutes. The Dawgs ended thequarter with an 18-5 advantage.

In the second frame, Franklin continued their success bystripping the Tigers of the ball several times en route to a 27-18lead at the break.

“Our first half play was good,” said Bulldog coach Chris Jordan,”We shot the ball well and limited our turnovers.”

In the second half, Jordan’s Dawgs returned to an early seasonhabit by turning the ball over numerous times. That resulted in theTigers trailing by three, 43-40, after three quarters of action.The Dawgs committed a total of six turnovers in the third, doublingtheir entire first half total.

As the fourth frame began, the Dawgs and Tigers swayed back andforth in a Region 7-3A classic. The entire standing room only crowdwitnessed a dazzling show of athleticism as the lead changed fivetimes before Bulldog center Josh Bradford made the game-winninglayup with 14.3 left.

The Tigers had several chances at the game-winning basket butmissed twice in the closing seconds. Bulldog shooting guard BobbyHenderson collected the game-winning rebound with .01 left in thegame. He then raced down court to give the Dawgs the hard-foughtwin.

“I’m proud about how we played tonight,” added Jordan. “Wedidn’t come in here and give in.”

Jordan’s Dawgs must now get set to play region rival North PikeTuesday night while Crystal Springs prepares for the BrookhavenTournament Thursday night against McComb.