FOREST — The Franklin County girls basketball team used a 21-point outburst in the second quarter of its MHSAA Class 3A South State Tournament game against Forest High School to erase a first-half deficit and take 29-25 lead into halftime.

The Lady Bulldogs then held on to their slim lead in the second half and were able to take home a 52-50 victory.

“We had a great second quarter,” Franklin County head coach Charles Moore said. “We were down by four going into the second quarter and had some outside shooting from (Kierra) Sykes, (Briana) Grayson and (Kierra) Collins. Once we got the lead, we were able to pressure them and run our offense like we want.”

Moore said his team had an outstanding effort defensively in the game. The Lady Bulldogs held Forest to just seven points in the third quarter to help maintain their slim lead.

Forest was able to manage 18 points in the fourth quarter, but the Lady Bulldogs were able to score with the Lady Bearcats to hold on to win. Franklin County scored 17 points in the fourth quarter.

Collins led Franklin County with 18 points on the night. Grayson finished with nine points. Sykes, Latoya Griffin and Toni Robinson each scored six points a piece.

Forest’s Chelsea Campbell finished as the games’ leading scorer with 19 points.

The win pushes Franklin County into the third round, where they will face another tough opponent in Choctaw Central, Moore said.

“It’s big (to advance),” Moore said. “Unfortunately we have Choctaw (tonight). Both teams like to run, so it could get interesting. We will just try to defend them as best we can.”

The win pushed Franklin County to 24-4 on the season. The Lady Bulldogs will play Choctaw Central at 6 p.m. today.