MEADVILLE &045; The best game in the Miss-Lou just might have been in Meadville Tuesday night, where the Franklin County girls’ basketball team beat Wilkinson County 56-45.

The Lady Bulldogs moved to 5-1 on the season, the Lady Wildcats are 7-3.

With two of the top girls’ teams in the area playing, this game had a lot to live up to. It did.

This contest featured good offense with nice spacing, crisp passes, good shooting and solid decision making, qualities not always found in abundance in high school basketball.

And the result was in doubt until the Lady Bulldogs broke things open in the fourth quarter with an 11-4 run that sealed the win.

&uot;We’re getting a little better every game,&uot; Franklin County head coach Charles Moore said. &uot;But give credit to them, they have some very impressive players and I know he’s missing one player right now. They’re going to be really good.&uot;

Franklin County had a small lead for most of the first half, though Wilkinson tied the game three times in the first quarter. The Lady Bulldogs took a 23-13 lead on Shalenia Wilcher’s 3-point basket, their biggest lead until the waning minutes of the game.

But the Lady Wildcats fought back, going on a 13-2 run to take the lead late in the second quarter before Franklin’s Tamara Gant hit a basket in the last seconds to give the Lady Bulldogs a 27-26 halftime advantage.

The Lady Wildcats opened the third with consecutive three-pointers by Nakia Stewart, but Franklin County responded by scoring the next six points to take a 35-32 lead heading into the final period. Wilkinson County’s 32-31 lead midway through the third would be it’s last of the game.

Then Franklin County turned the jets on, scoring 21 points in the fourth to take the game. Three Lady Bulldogs &045; Tamara Gant, Ashley Weatherby and Victoria Hunt &045; had at least four points in the quarter.

Both teams played good offense, though neither played great defense in the contest, allowing too many shots on ball movement and penetration.

&uot;The offense was good. We moved the ball well, hit some shots,&uot; Moore said. &uot;Both teams did some good things. Or maybe it was just bad defense.&uot;

Moore’s squad did have its hands full on defense containing Wilkinson point guard Latasha Williams, who consistently penetrated the defense on drives for short jumpers or passes to open shooters on the perimeter. The greatest beneficiary of Williams’ work was Nakia Stewart, who scored 19 points in the game and had five three-point shots.

&uot;We need to work on defense,&uot; Franklin County’s Hunt said. &uot;Our offense was really good, everyone was shooting well. But our defense should have been better.&uot;

Franklin County’s offense wasn’t bad either. Hunt had 18 points in the game in addition to her defensive responsibilities against Wilkinson’s Williams. Gant and Weatherby were also in double figures with 12 and 11 respectively.

When the Lady Bulldogs finally broke things open in the fourth, they did so by running the fast break, forcing some turnovers and getting some easy baskets. The Wilkinson team, which played better in the half-court game, couldn’t keep up in the running style Franklin County used.

Neither team used their bench much. Only one backup for either team, Franklin County’s Katherine Leggett, scored in the game. Leggett had two points.