No mistake could be made about which teams were the number one seeds in Monday’s opening games of the 13^th District basketball tournament.
     Host Franklin-Simpson’s teams were clearly superior to Logan County’s, as the end came quickly for the Lady Cougars and Cougars. Franklin won 58-30 in the girls game and 73-52 in the boys.
    While the LCHS girls were never competitive on this night after having played the highly regarded Lady Cats fairly close in late January, the Cougar boys made a couple of nice runs at the Cats. Pulling out a win was too much to ask, though.
     “They have a good team, a better one than ours for now, but we showed signs that we are learning how to play,” said first-year Cougar coach Harold Tackett.
     Lady Cougars coach Scot MacAllister was disappointed that some of his players were intimidated by and reluctant to compete against Franklin, which was state runner-up last year by a point. “I’m sorry that our supporters had to sit through that,” he said.
     The Lady Cats led 20-0 before Markita Pheal hit a free throw with 2:07 remaining in the first quarter erase Logan’s goose egg on the scoreboard. Michelle England started in the deep left corner near the baseline, circled the arc and penetrated the lane for the Lady Cougars’ only field goal in the first 16 minutes. Franklin, which slowed its offense down in the second quarter, led 32-3 at the half.
    Franklin led 42-5. After that the Lady Cougars outscored the F-S reserves. They got a lift from senior Kelsey Gregory, who joined Jenna Wilson in playing their last games for Logan. Gregory made a steal, scored a goal and fired an assist to Wilson shortly after coming into the game.
    Jassmine Jones, a freshman who played sparingly until the last few minutes, led the Lady Cougars in scoring with 6 points.
    The Lady Cougars finished the season with a 12-11 record.
    Coach Lex Lindsey’s Lady Cats (26-3) got 18 points from Drea Gooch, who hit a trio of treys in the first quarter. Sophomore center Chastity Gooch, who dominated the first quarter, scored 12 of her 14 points in the first half. She also had 16 rebounds.
    F-S will play Todd Central  in the district finals Thursday at 7 p.m.
Score by quarters:  1) F-S 25-1, 2) 32-3, 3) 46-12, Final)  Franklin-Simpson 58, Logan County 30
LCHS (30)  Jassmine Jones 6, Sarah Speck 5, Markita Pheal 5, Ann Dorris 4,  Jenna Wilson 3, Michelle England 2, Meagan Williams 2, Kelsey Gregory 2, Meg Brown 1, Victoria Elliott, Kayla MacAllister
F-S (58)  Drea Gooch 18, Chastity Good 14, Bryant 7, Payne 6, Lunsford 4, Nolan 3, Cook 3, Savage 2, Jernigan 1
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     Like their female counterparts, the Franklin-Simpson boys pitched a shutout early, going up 9-0 before senior reserve Tyler Coleman scored on an assist from Seth McReynolds.  Chris Covington followed with a quick basket, but then Logan started floating off-target one-handers instead of shooting. Suddenly the Wildcats were up 20-4 before Logan’s Brett Sowell hit a 3-pointer. Sowell was steady all-night, not trying to do anything spectacular or make a show after he hit a shot.
     Sowell’s bucket started a Cougar run. He hit a two-pointer sandwiched between a pair of buckets by Covington to cut the lead to 22-13. Then after Franklin scored six points, Covington hit a basket while being heavily defended by Courtney Dalcourt, and then Covington swished a 3-pointer to make it 28-18.
     Sowell hit another 3-pointer and Covington scored on a rebound to cut the halftime margin to 35-25. Sowell opened the second half with another trey to make the margin 35-28. and Franklin had reason to worry.
     That’s when Dalcourt, who has signed to play football for Western Kentucky University as has F-S teammate Jim Murphree. took over. He owned the boards and the basket, sending F-S to a 56-37 lead going into the final eight minutes. After that, no matter how hard Logan tried, the Cougars couldn’t get over the hump.
     Terry Bryant led Coach David Clark’s Wildcats-the three-time defending district champions-with 24 points, 18 of them in the first half. Dalcourt and J.T. Curtis scored 15 each.
     Franklin will play in Friday’s 7 p.m. championship game against Russellville. That has become a perennial matchup and usually a classic.
     Sowell (14) and Covington (13) did most of the scoring for Logan, which finished 4-21. It was the final game for seniors Covington, Coleman, Timron Knox and Brett Parks. It was the 11^th straight season Logan was one-and-done in the postseason.
Score by quarters:  1) F-S 22-7, 2) 35-25, 3) 56-37, Final)  Franklin-Simpson 73, Logan County 52
LCHS (52)  Brett Sowell 14, Chris Covington 13, Twin Lancaster 8, Seth McReynolds 7, Derrod Blakey 4, Tyler Coleman 2, Jonathan Barbee 2, Ryan Harper 2, Washington, Parks, Knox, Graham, Watson, Collier, Pheal
F-S (73)  Terry Bryant 24, Courtney Dalcourt 15, J.T. Curtis 15, Murphree 6, Bell 2, Randolph 4, Doaks 3, Krantz 1, Fox 1, Tellmer 2