Francis collects a double-double in loss at Neumann

By Bees O’Brien

WILLIAMSPORT, PA- Bucktail senior Lily Francis continued her strong play on Wednesday night in the Lady Bucks 52-27 loss to St. John Neumann. Francis would score 13 points and pulled down a tough 10 rebounds against the best forwards in the entire Mid Penn Conference.

The problem for Bucktail was that the Lady Knights had three players collect double-doubles led by Gigi Parlante’s 17 points and 15 rebounds. Teammate Sheiana Tutler scored 10 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. Lily Reid also got into the action for Neumann by scoring 14 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

St. John Neumann started off hot right out of the gates. A 16-10 lead after one quarter would set the pace. Bucktail’s Francis scored all 10 of her team’s points in the quarter.

A 12-5 Lady Knights’ second quarter built their halftime lead to 28-15.A 24-12 Neumann advantage in the second half would set the final.

Francis led Bucktail with 13 points. Matti Mason added 7 points. Senior Kayla Probert netted 4 points, Alexis Lowery added 2 and Eva Sockman rounded out the Lady Bucks scoring with 1 point.

Bucktail is now 7-10 on the season and will be in a critical must-win contest with Montgomery (2-14) on Saturday afternoon. Bucktail won the previous game against the Lady Raiders back in December 55-44.

The win bumped St. John Neumann’s record to 11-7 and locked them into the District 4 1A playoffs, where they currently sit in third place in the standings.