Franklinton suffered a 56-46 loss to Salmen in the final regular season game that took place Tuesday in District 8-4A play.
The game had league title implications.
Salmen winning means the Lady Spartans are the District 8-4A champion while Franklinton is runner up.
Had the Lady Demons won, they would have been co-champs.
Franklinton tallied a 6-2 record in league play, with both of the losses coming to Salmen. The Lady Spartans went 8-0.
The difference in Tuesday’s game was a pair of runs by Salmen, with one each coming in the second and third quarter.
Franklinton trailed just 17-16 with 6:01 left in the first half when Salmen tallied seven straight.
Ashanti Eden had a hand in all six points.
She scored the first four on a pair of free throws and the next two on a layup. Eden made a steal and passed to Jaylen Huderson for a layup to make it 23-16 with 5:01 left in the first half.
Salmen was up 29-23 at halftime.
Franklinton’s Miriam Tate opened the second half with a 3-point play on the opening possession to make it a three-point game just 12 seconds into the third period.
Skylar Christmas made a 3-pointer to push the lead back to six at 32-26.
With the lead still six at 34-28 with 6:27 left in the third quarter, the Lady Spartans went on a 6-1 run to finish the period.
Christmas made a field goal with 6:11 on the clock.
Franklinton’s Danaria Magee split from the line just nine seconds later, trimming the lead to seven, but Jayla Faciane and Christmas made 2-pointers and it was a 40-29 contest through three quarters.
Franklinton was never able to get back within single digits. Salmen’s biggest lead was 14, at 50-36.
“We had some missed opportunities early on in the first half,” Franklinton coach Elecia Crain said. “Early foul trouble caused us to make some decisions that we would not normally make. However, overall it wasn’t a bad game. Losing a key player to fouls at the end of the third quarter was the game changer.”
Tate led the Lady Demons with 18 points. She made a trio of 3-pointers.
Kaniya Dillon posted 12 points.
Addison Carter posted nine points while Danaria Magee had five and Jayln Bickham added two. Carter made three 3-pointers.
Christmas led all scorers with 21 points. She made a 3-pointer.
Eden posted 18 points.
Huderson had 13. She was good on one 3-pointer.
Faciane added four.