High School Girls Basketball

By DARREN SANDS

Greetings from Troy, New York! We are a little over two hours out from the first girls semifinal featuring Floral Park versus Malone. Adam Ronis picked Floral Park.

Yes. A-Ron, a magician with the picks of late, picked Floral Park.

Of course this comes with a caveat: They've got to get off to a strong start. Floral Park hasn't shot well in the opening quarters of both the county championship, and the L.I. Championship against Huntington. Franklin Academy has been here before and Floral Park fans are in agreement that a slow start could be lethal in a setting like this.

We'll have the scene, lineups and all that good stuff as we get closer to tip. In the words of T.O., getcha popcorn ready.

Update 3:25 p.m. -- You're probably wondering why we haven't started the blog.

We still have no start here at Hudson Valley Community College.

Floral Park has just taken the court after a nailbiter between Honeoye Falls Lima (Section V) and Cornwall (Section IX). Should Floral Park win against Franklin Academy, they will play the Cougars of Honeoye Falls, who just eeked out a 42-39 win against Cornwall. The Cougars had about 300 fans here. Two minutes from introductions. Stay tuned.

Franklin Academy 8, Floral Park 1: Floral Park turned the ball over five times on offense. A three-point play by Franklin Academy's Haley Poupore capped the scoring.

Floral Park has started off slow. Again.

Update 4:00 p.m. -- Shannon Ingram's strong defense and rebounding helped Floral Park get back into the Huntington game. But has Ingram ever played against anyone as long as 6-1 Alyson Johnson? The Franklin Academy "guard" -- and we use that term loosely -- is in a bit of foul trouble, but she could neutralize Ingram's intensity on the boards come the second half.

A couple of free throws from Kate Hartnett and a huge three-pointer got Floral Park back into this one. The score is 12-7 in favor of Franklin. Three minutes to go in the half.

Franklin Academy 16, Floral Park 9, Half: Kate Hartnett has five points to lead Floral Park, but Lady Knights trail Franklin by five points.

Enough with the hogwash analysis: Floral Park can defend in their 2-3 zone against this team. But can they score? Adam and I were just chatting for a second and said that if Floral Park can get some sort of rhythm on offense, its anyone's game. We'll be back, as, apparently coach Mayerhofer has kept his halftime speech short. His team is already back on the floor.

Update 4:28 -- Franklin went on an 11-1 run capped by a three-pointer from Alyson Johnson, which gave Franklin a 29-14 lead. Not looking good for the Lady Knights.

Franklin 31, Floral Park 19, 3rd quarter: Can Floral Park do it again?

Update 4:39: We might have the answer to our last question. Ericka Re just hit a huge three from the left side to pull Floral Park within five. Franklin scored again, but Shannon Ingram is at the line and just hit the first of two free throws. Hold on.

She made them both. 35-30, Franklin. There is 4:30 remaining in the game.

Update 4:46: Floral Park forced a backcourt violation with 2:15 left, still 35-30, Lady Knights ball.

Time for rapid fire updates:
Franklin called a timeout, they have the ball.

Franklin throws the ball away. 1:30 left.

Very hard foul by Kate Hartnett on Haley Poupore. Poupore makes both free throws. Franklin up by seven.

Ashley Marshall goes the length of the court and scores a layup for Franklin to put them up by nine. The score is 39-30, with 47 seconds left. The Lady Knights are running out of time.

FINAL 43-32, Floral Park is defeated in the State Class A Championship Semifinal.

Franklin Academy's Haley Poupore had 14 points and Alyson Johnson had nine to help outlast Floral Park, 43-32, in a State Class A Semifinal.

Floral Park overcame a slow start from to pull within five points at halftime, and did it again after Franklin Academy used an 11-1 run to build a 12-point lead in the third quarter, but it eventually ran out of time. Kate Hartnett had 10 points for Floral Park, and Megan Galvin added nine.

Franklin Academy will move on to the final tomorrow at 7 p.m. against Section V's Honeoye Falls Lima.