Franklin Community is on a eight-game streak of home wins (dating back to last season), while Zionsville is on a three-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The Franklin Community Grizzly Cubs will be home for the holidays to greet the Zionsville Eagles at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday. Franklin Community has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 468 points over their last seven games.
Franklin Community has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won nine games by 24 points or more this season. They took their match at home on Saturday with ease, bagging a 60-32 win over Shelbyville. Given Franklin Community's advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 16th, while Shelbyville is ranked 168th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Franklin Community to victory, but perhaps none more so than Erica Buening, who scored 18 points along with five rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Lauren Klem, who scored nine points along with eight rebounds and six assists.
Meanwhile, winning is just a little bit easier when you outrebound your opponent 19 to 1 on the offensive boards, a fact Zionsville proved on Saturday. They took down Franklin Central 50-36.
It was another big night for Emma Haan, who scored 23 points along with three steals. That makes it four consecutive games in which she has scored at least 25% of Zionsville's points. Another player making a difference was Mckenzie Chapman, who scored five points along with seven rebounds and six assists.
Franklin Community's win bumped their record up to 12-2. As for Zionsville, their win bumped their record up to 10-2.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as the pair are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Franklin Community hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having only averaged 63.1 points per game. However, it's not like Zionsville struggles in that department as they've been averaging only 53.7 points per game. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Franklin Community strolled past Zionsville in their previous matchup back in December of 2021 by a score of 65-48. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Zionsville's Laila Hull, who dropped a double-double on 26 points and 11 rebounds. Now that she won't be playing on Saturday, will it be that much easier for Franklin Community to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.
