NASHVILLE, TN – The Shelbyville Central Golden Eaglettes opened the Keshia Jarrett era on the road at the Franklin Road Academy Lady Panthers on Tuesday night, but ultimately came up short, falling 55-44.

Ella Johnson led the way for the Lady Panthers with 26 points with half of those coming in the fourth quarter. Johnson connected on six three-pointers in total, and she was joined by Ava Zenner in double figures with 12 points. 

After graduating a 1,000 point scorer in Paige Blackburn along with important pieces such as Lilly Brown and Sammie Brown, the onus shifts to seniors Lanaya Young and Jaz Western as the most prominent returners from a season ago.

For the Eaglettes, Lanaya Young and Morgan Pridemore were joint top-scorers with 14 points apiece. Returning point guard, Jaz Western, was held to just five points as both her and Young were saddled with foul trouble. Both Western and Young ended up fouling out in the fourth quarter.

To start things off, FRA took a 14-12 lead after the opening period of play thanks to their success from both the free throw line and the three-point line. Shelbyville got to the line, but only went 2/7 at the charity stripe without a made three while the Lady Panthers went 4/6 at the line and connected on a pair of three-pointers. 

FRA hit two more threes in the second quarter, outscoring Shelbyville 14-10 in the period to take a 28-22 lead going into the locker room. Pridemore’s five points led the way for the visitors while both Johnson and Zenner scored five points as well.

Both defenses continued to hound the opposing offense in the third quarter as neither team scratched double-digits in the period. Both teams scored just nine points as the Lady Panthers maintained their six-point lead, 37-31, into the fourth quarter.

In the final frame, Ella Johnson exploded for 13 of FRA’s 18 fourth-quarter points to pull away from Shelbyville, hitting a trio of triples before closing things down at the free throw line, finishing 4/4 from the charity stripe as well. The Eaglettes simply had no answer for Johnson. 

Meanwhile, Western and Young both ended up fouling out, combining for six points in the fourth quarter as Shelbyville was outscored 18-13 in the fourth quarter. Pridemore led Shelbyville with five points in the quarter, but in the end it wasn’t enough as FRA came away with the win, 55-44.

Franklin Road Academy improves to 1-0 and will play Thursday night vs Zion Christian Academy.

Shelbyville Central falls to 0-1 and will host Glenciff on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m.