KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Jasmine Franklin was Tennessee basketball as Kellie Harper sees it: passionate and aggressive to the point of contagious.
Anyone in the Lady Vols’ nine-player rotation could have been singled out Monday after a 94-47 blowout of Toledo to reach the program’s 36th Sweet 16 in 41 years. They all played well. So did some of the reserves who got ample opportunity in front of a celebratory crowd of 5,486 at Thompson-Boling Arena. But the efforts of Franklin, a 6-foot-1 graduate transfer from Missouri State, deserve a nod before the focus turns to No. 1 seed Virginia Tech in the Seattle 3 regional semifinals.
Such as the decision to stand in front of Toledo’s Sophia Wiard at full speed, take a hard shot to the sternum, hit the floor with the back of her head, then lift it and roar in celebration of a charge call. Such as a swatting of Toledo’s top scorer, Quinesha Lockett, and gathering of the ball in one motion with her right hand, a defensive play rewarded quickly on the other end with a pass from Rickea Jackson for a 3-point play. Such as a hard shot that knocked Jessica Cook to the ground.
That one got an immediate “my bad” from Franklin.
“I threw my elbow into her chest,” Franklin said. “A little bit of emotion. I apologized to her.”
Oh how…
