Warren East's Jill Renfro (left) guards against Franklin-Simpson's Keely Morrow (right) during the game Thursday at Greenwood High School. Franklin-Simpson defeated Warren East 58-33.

Warren East gave the Franklin-Simpson girls’ basketball team all it could handle in the first half Thursday night.

But the Lady Wildcats finally found what they’ve been seeking for some time – a strong third quarter.

Franklin-Simpson (8-4) finished the first half on an 8-0 run and outscored the Lady Raiders 22-8 in the third quarter, winning 54-33 to advance to today’s championship of the Greenwood Holiday Classic.

“We’re not taking winning for granted,” Franklin-Simpson coach Josh Matthews said. “I thought our kids responded well. A lot of teams in that position would panic, but we didn’t. We understood what we needed to do and did that in the second half.”

The Lady Wildcats will play Greenwood, which beat South Warren 64-38 on Thursday, for the tournament title at 8 p.m. tonight.

“I would put them in the top four teams in our region,” Matthews said of the Lady Gators. “Playing them on their home floor for the championship of their own tournament is a daunting task for our young team, but we’re going to give it our best effort to get a win.”

Late in the first half Thursday, that championship berth was in jeopardy.

Warren East (1-12) led for much of the first half while Franklin-Simpson shot 25 percent from the field, and the Lady Raiders clung to a 20-18 advantage with 2:32 left in the second quarter.

But Franklin-Simpson scored the final eight points before the break, including five points from sophomore guard Jenna Curtis.

“The intensity was a lot better,” Curtis said. “We finally figured out how to play our press defense. We started slow and weren’t playing our game, but our mental toughness and aggressiveness helped us pull through.”

The Lady Wildcats forced 10 turnovers in the third quarter, building a steady lead behind Curtis, junior guard Tasia Covington and sophomore forward Sydney Gooch.

The trio combined to score 40 of Franklin-Simpson’s 54 points.

“We played as a team and did what we needed to do to win,” Gooch said. “Our effort was better tonight, and you could tell during the game.”

A combined 11 points were scored in the fourth quarter, but Covington capped the offense with back-to-back jumpers in the waning minutes.

The junior paced Franklin-Simpson with 15 points and seven rebounds, while Gooch finished with 14 points and eight rebounds. Curtis added 11 points.

Warren East got 12 points from sophomore guard Hannah Parker. Junior forward Justice Martin had nine points and six rebounds, and sophomore forward Jill Renfro pulled down 10 rebounds.

The Lady Raiders play District 14 rival South Warren at 3 p.m. today in a consolation game.

“I thought Warren East’s kids played hard and battled, and they were good all night,” Matthews said. “They get better every game even though they’re young. It’s more about them than us. Our kids played hard, but we didn’t execute or shoot it well, and a lot of that was because of Warren East.”

The Lady Wildcats now face Greenwood (12-2), which has won 10 straight games, but Curtis hopes her team has also found a rhythm.

“(GHS senior forward) Molly Lamb – obviously you have to stop her,” Curtis said. “We have to watch her and the people she’s able to find on offense, but more than anything, we need to worry about ourselves and keep up that toughness like it was tonight.”

FSHS – 12 14 22 6 – 54

WEHS – 11 9 8 5 – 33

FSHS – Covington 15, Gooch 14, Curtis 11, Morrow 4, Brooks 4, Krantz 2, Babb 2, Reetzke 2.

WEHS – Parker 12, Justice Martin 9, Gilbert 4, Houchins 4, Renfro 2, Young 2.