It wasn’t officially dubbed, “Hannah Francis Night,” on Saturday in Falcon Gym, but it could have been.
The senior guard fired in 16 points — in the first half, including four-of-four on 3-pointers — and in the second half, turned it over to Lizzy Ziemski and the rest of her Jefferson teammates as the Falcons claimed a 53-36 victory against visiting North.
Francis finished with those 16 points and added three steals. Ziemski, who had six points in the first half, picked up where Francis left off in the final two quarters, finishing with 17 points, 20 rebounds, five assists, six steals and four blocked shots. Joslin Landis had eight points, four assists and five steals, while Sam Morford had six points, 10 rebounds, three steals and three blocks and Rachel Francis had four assists and four steals.
Post player Kelsey Pacholke led the Rangers (5-10), posting 17 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks.
The game marked the first-ever matchup between Jefferson (11-6) and North.
n Pymatuning Valley 35, Linesville, Pa. 29 — The Lions broke out to a big first quarter, but the Lakers put the clamps on them defensively in the rest of the game to pull away to the non-conference victory. PV (15-2, 10-0 in the Northeastern Athletic Conference) still trailed, 22-20 at halftime, but pulled ahead in the third quarter, 29-25, and expanded its lead slightly in the fourth quarter as well. Olivia Holt led PV with 11 points, eight steals and five assists, while Josey Workman had 12 points, 15 rebounds and six blocked shots and Nicole Virostek had nine points. Chelsi Riordan led Linesville (10-6) with eight points.
n South 67, Riverside 39 — The Rebels held the Beavers to single digits in the first and third quarters to run away to the PAC win. South (10-6, 7-3) held a 20-4 lead after the first quarter, a 38-18 halftime edge and had the game wrapped up after three quarters at 51-22. Alexa Tropiano was the only girl in double figures for South with 13 points, but Laura Vidmar added nine and Kelsey Kobe and Molly Linabarger each had eight. Kelly Kohr topped Riverside (1-14, 0-9) with 10 points.
n Aurora 41, Perry 35 — Three quarters in single digits cost the Pirates the lead they had developed in the Chagrin Valley Conference Chagrin Division with their loss to the Greenmen at Spectator Gymnasium. Perry (10-5, 5-2) had leads of 8-5 after the first quarter and 23-19 at halftime, but Aurora grabbed a 32-29 lead after the third quarter and expanded it from there. Perry’s Meghan Blaha led all scorers with 18 points, but no other Pirate had more than six points.
Freshman basketball
Despite three girls in double figures, Geneva was unable to get past Mentor’s Gray team in a 45-38 loss. Lyndsey Armstrong, Sydney McCaleb and Amy Pitcher each had 10 points for Geneva (12-3), which host Chardon on Tuesday.
