“As the saying goes, a win’s a win, especially in the playoffs,” said Warren coach Lisa LaVan, whose Dragons are 20-3 overall but, more importantly, 1-0 in the playoffs.

Warren missed its first 11 shots from the field and didn’t score until two Emma Ruhlman free throws put the Dragons up 2-0 halfway through the first quarter.

Franklin patiently and excruciatingly passed around the perimeter, trying to get the ball to its 6-foot-1 leading scorer Camdon Bashor. That game plan resulted in 22 passes on Franklin’s first possession, using over a minute on the clock.

“We knew they were much better now than when we played them at the beginning of the year, first game of the year,” said LaVan. “Ryan (Justice, head coach) does a good job with that group. We settled in. We figured it out; a little cold early and kind of caught on. There were definitely some nerves; finally some fans here, I feel like it was a little bit louder.”

Times Observer Photo by Matt Spielman Warren’s bench celebrates after Emma Ruhlman scored and was fouled on the play during the second half of Saturday afternoon’s PIAA District 10 Class 5A quarterfinal against Franklin at Warren Area High School.

Warren trailed 6-5 after one quarter with Riley Childress’ 3-pointer with 1:20 left the lone Dragons’ field goal.

The Dragons were better in the second quarter. Kelsey Stuart’s 3-pointer gave Warren a lead it would never relinquish. Stuart also hit Emma Ruhlman on a nice pass for a 3-pointer and an 11-6 lead, and assisted Teagan Paris for two more points.

Childress and Ruhlman had consecutive layups after steals and upped the lead to 17-10. The Dragons led 19-12 at the half.

“The third quarter was the pivotal one, that was the turning point,” said LaVan.

Ruhlman and Childress had 5 points apiece in an 11-2 third during which Franklin had more turnovers — three — than points.

“A lot of teams are going to pound the air out of the ball, because they don’t want us on offense because they know what we’re capable of,” said Lavan, adding that Warren, mostly senior Teagan Paris, denied Bashor the ball on the inside.

“We changed our game plan because I wasn’t supposed to guard (Bashor); I was supposed to guard a guard, and then we switched it after the first possession on defense,” said Paris. “(She) obviously has a big height advantage on us, so we had to keep her from scoring.”

Bashor, a junior, finished with four field goals and 8 points.

“Our No. 1 goal was to slow down No. 12 (Bashor), and Teagan did an awesome job with that,” said junior teammate Ruhlman. “She barely got any touches on offense, and they took forever because they were passing back and forth trying to get it to her. I thought our defensive intensity was another one of our keys. We got seven steals and (forced turnovers).”

Playing from behind, Franklin was forced to foul in the fourth quarter. Warren was 7 of 13 at the charity stripe in the quarter and 12 of 20 in the game. The Knights (8-14) didn’t get to the line all game.

Ruhlman finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds and five steals. Childress had 14 points and four assists.

Ruhlman insisted the slow start wasn’t because they were looking past Franklin, which Warren defeated 58-24 in early January.

“We have to have a chip on our shoulders and be confident that we are the best team, but we also can’t be overconfident,” she said.

“We’re going to take every game seriously,” added Paris. “The boys’ game (Warren on Friday) is a great example; they had lost to (Fairview) twice before beating them. Moving forward, whoever we end up playing, we can’t take them for granted.”

That will be Harbor Creek at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Warren Area High School in the D10 semifinals.

Even so, the goal is always the same.

“To win D10,” said Stuart.

FRANKLIN (23)

LaJeunesse 0 0-0 0, Doty 0 0-0 0, Hartle 0 0-0 0, JaBlum 3 0-0 8, Bashor 4 0-0 8, Phipps 1 0-0 2, JeBlum 1 0-0 2, Billingsley 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 0-0 23.

WARREN (39)

SRuhlman 0 0-0 0, Kuzminski 0 0-0 0, Childress 4 4-5 14, Stuart 1 1-4 4, ERuhlman 5 4-5 16, Paris 1 3-4 5, GRuhlman 0 0-2 0, Munksgard 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 12-20 39.

3-point goals–JaBlum 2, Childress 2, Stuart, ERuhlman 2.

Franklin 6 6 2 9 — 23

Warren 5 14 11 9 — 39