The Franklin girls basketball team survived a couple of close shaves earlier this season. On Wednesday, the Grizzly Cubs finally got nicked.
A prolonged offensive dry spell proved too much to overcome as Class 4A No. 2 Franklin fell from the ranks of the unbeaten with a 42-40 overtime loss to No. 7 Westfield in the opening game of the Hall of Fame Classic in New Castle.
Up 28-20 at the half after a buzzer-beating 3 from Kuryn Brunson — a shot that also put Brunson over the 1,000-point mark for her career — the Grizzly Cubs (17-1) quickly lost momentum as Westfield put together an 18-4 run that took up all of the third quarter and bled into the fourth.
Franklin trailed 38-32 midway through the final period before creeping back, eventually tying the game with 1:01 remaining when a turnover off of a halfcourt trap eventually led to a putback bucket by Brunson. The Shamrocks had a shot to win at the end of regulation, but University of Michigan recruit Alyssa Crockett was unable to convert.
Crockett did score the only points of the extra session, however, getting a layup midway through. The Grizzly Cubs had a chance to tie or win after Crockett missed the front end of a one-and-one with less than a minute to go — but even after using three timeouts to set up a final shot, they were unable to crack Westfield’s defense. Ashlyn Traylor got a contested layup attempt in the closing seconds, but it rolled off and Franklin couldn’t corral the offensive rebound in time to put it back up.
The Grizzly Cubs entered the day as one of just two teams in the state scoring over 70 points a game — and the No. 2 3-point shooting team in the country. Against the Shamrocks, they scored just 12 points in the final 20 minutes of play and Brunson’s 3 to end the half was their last one of the game.
Franklin bounced back with a 58-47 win over Class 3A No. 7 Washington in the third-place game. The Grizzly Cubs led 32-28 at the break before using a 10-0 run in the third quarter to take command.
