Francis shines in Lady Bucks’ road loss

By Bees O’Brien

MILLVILLE, PA – Bucktail head coach Carl Gentzyel has been waiting for Lily Francis to have a breakout game. On Tuesday night in Millville the senior forward may have done so.

Francis grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds, scored 10 points and swatted away 5 Lady Quaker shots and despite Mak Wagner adding 16 points the Lady Bucks were outlasted by Millville 42-33.

It was a battle between two playoff contenders in a mid-January jockey for District IV 1A seedings.

Bucktail held a slim 8-6 lead after one quarter, but a 14-8 second quarter Millville advantage gave the home team the 20-16 lead at the break.The teams struggled to start the second half. Both squads only combined for just 11 points, the Lady Quakers scoring 6 of them and held a 26-21 lead heading into the final frame.

Wagner would score 8 of her team-high 16 points in the final quarter, but a 16-12 Millville advantage would seal the deal for the Lady Quakers.

In addition to Francis and Wagner’s big nights, Kayla Probert would score 4 points and Matti Mason would add 3 points.

The win improved Millville’s record to 6-5 and jumped them up to the number 3 spot in the current 1A standings. The loss dropped the Lady Bucks to 5-5 on the season and would see them slip to the number 5 spot in the current standings.

Bucktail will next be in action on Friday against 1-7 Sullivan County in LaPorte.