An 8-0 run in the final 78 seconds of the first quarter turned a 12-11 edge by North Decatur into a 19-12 advantage for Franklin County Tuesday night. The Wildcats survived multiple runs from the Lady Chargers to hang on for a 62-59 victory.

The period-closing run by the Wildcats found Jodie Hensley wrapping twotreys around a rebound bucket by reserve center Alicia Hilbert. The second of Hensley’s triples was a 35-foot heave at the first-quarter buzzer.

By mid-quarter in the second stanza, the Chargers had tied the score and

taken a 23-21 lead as North Decatur scored 11 of the first 13 points in

the second quarter. From that point to the end of the quarter the two

squads swapped the lead five times before the buzzer sent them to the

locker room with Franklin County leading 32-31.

The first score of the second half was a free throw by Sarah Wallpe to

again knot the count but the Wildcats scored the next seven points to gain a 39-32 edge with 4:32 to go on Jessica Dowd’s only basket of the game.

The Chargers made two mini-runs at the Wildcats cutting the lead to three points once and two near the end of three periods. Hilbert again scored on a rebound basket with one second to go for a 47-43 Franklin County lead heading to the final period.

Jill Hammersmith cut the lead to three with a free throw but six unanswered points gave the Lady Wildcats a nine-point edge with 5:11 to go in the game.

"We dug ourselves too deep a hole with that run early in the fourth

period. We couldn’t get out of it,” said Coach Julie Record.

The Chargers were able to cut the lead to as few as four points on three

occasions in the final minute and half before Hayley Hayden scored on a