Greenwood’s Emily Metzger takes a shot during Saturday’s sectional final against Franklin.
Chris Williams | For the Daily Journal
INDIANAPOLIS
Unlike most of her teammates, Ashlyn Traylor had never celebrated a sectional championship.
All that changed Saturday night when Traylor, a starting forward for Class 4A No. 2 Franklin, climbed the ladder to clutch her piece of net following the Grizzly Cubs’ 65-44 victory over Greenwood.
“It feels great,” said the 5-foot-9 Traylor, who led the way for the Cubs in the final at Franklin Central, scoring 25 points and grabbing eight rebounds. “I would say it was one of my best games of the season.
“The first half was rough for us, but we came out in the second half and our shooters were on. We’re definitely a second-half team.”
Difficult as it might be to believe, Franklin and Greenwood, two girls basketball programs in their 47th year, were meeting in a sectional championship game for only the third time — the Cubs winning in 1999 and the Woodmen in 2012.
Claiming the 13th sectional title in its history, Franklin (25-1) now turns its attention to Saturday’s regional at Columbus North. The Cubs play the 10 a.m. opener against the winner of the East Central-Columbus East final at Bloomington North on Tuesday.
Greenwood (14-11), a team that lost its previous four games to Franklin by an average of 44 points, kept Saturday night’s game interesting for a half, trailing only 27-19.
The Cubs opened the third quarter with a pair of Traylor baskets down low and free throws from senior guard Kuryn Brunson to provide a little more breathing room. It was still a 36-23 ball game before the Grizzly Cubs scored eight straight on two Traylor charities and consecutive 3-pointers from sophomore guard Scarlett Kimbrell and junior Adelyn Walker.
The lead grew as large as 22 points late in the third, but Greenwood, led by senior center Quinn Kelly, junior forward Emily Metzger and sophomore wing Brooklyn Bell, got as close as 14 midway through the fourth quarter.
Franklin responded, outscoring the Woodmen 13-6 the rest of the way.
“When you play teams that you’re familiar with, you’re just trying to feel each other out a bit,” Grizzly Cubs coach Josh Sabol said. “When we go in at halftime, usually we’ll make some adjustments and we’ll come out and execute.
“I think our defense in that third quarter really helped us pull away a little bit. We were able to get some good shots. Our shots really weren’t falling the first half, but they started to in the second half.”
Kimbrell made four triples for 12 points for Franklin, which shot 21 of 50 from the floor (42%) compared to Greenwood’s 15 of 34 (44.1%). The Grizzly Cubs outrebounded the Woodmen, 22-18, with Kelly corralling seven boards in a losing effort.
Greenwood didn’t do itself any favors handling the basketball, committing 25 turnovers.
Nonetheless, Woodmen coach Justin Bennett found plenty to like about what was the team’s first winning season in six years. Kelly, the team’s lone senior, exited the game to a nice ovation with 28.4 seconds remaining.
“I think what this week showed is how far our program has come,” said Bennett, whose squad was led by Metzger’s 16 points and Bell’s 13. “These ladies have worked tremendously hard to get to where we are.
“I mean, what can you say about a kid like Quinn Kelly? She meant a lot to this program. A four-year starter who has been a leader for us. We have girls who can score. We have girls who can do a lot of different things, but they’re good teammates. What they did was play as a team.”
