Franklin senior Kuryn Brunson, right, is interviewed by IHSAA sideline reporter Allison Hayes after receiving the Mental Attitude Award following Saturday’s Class 4A state final.
INDIANAPOLIS
Kuryn Brunson wanted to cap off her high school basketball career by bringing a state championship trophy back to Franklin.
Picking up the Mental Attitude Award on Saturday night was still a pretty big parting gift, even if it may have felt like small consolation in the immediate aftermath of Franklin’s 76-52 loss to Noblesville.
“I was definitely grateful,” Brunson said. “I’m blessed to be able to represent this community, be able to represent that prestigious award, and I’m grateful to be nominated.”
Brunson, the Daily Journal’s Player of the Year as a junior after leading the Grizzly Cubs to a semistate appearance, was content to share the spotlight with classmate Ashlyn Traylor this season — a selflessness that not only helped the team take one more step forward but also revealed plenty about her character.
There’s not a kid that’s more deserving, and I think that just kind of shows who she is,” Franklin coach Josh Sabol said of Brunson. “She loves Franklin, she’s a Franklin kid, she’s the type of player that likes to get her teammates involved, and she pulls for her teammates more than she does herself. I was really happy that she got that award tonight.”
Way too cold
Franklin built a reputation the last two years as a team that could destroy opponents with its shooting. On Saturday night, though, it was the Millers that had the hot hand while the Grizzly Cubs struggled to get anything to drop.
One of the nation’s top 3-point shooting teams, Franklin made just 6 of 24 from behind the arc against Noblesville, which needed just 13 attempts from deep to hit five. The Millers shot 55% from the field overall (29 for 53) to the Grizzly Cubs’ frigid 29% (15 for 51).
Before Kennedy Urban’s 3 in the final minute, Franklin had been just 1 of 10 from 3 in the second half — making it almost impossible for the team to complete its rally from a 19-point halftime deficit. The cold shooting, paired with an uncharacteristic assist-to-turnover ratio (8 to 16), spelled doom for the Grizzly Cubs.
Franklin jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead, but the Millers would go ahead on a triple from the right wing from guard Reagan Wilson at 4:59 of the opening quarter and were off to the races.
“They kind of just matched our pace,” Cubs senior guard Kuryn Brunson said. “They played the way that we want to play, and they just did it better than us tonight.”
Sophomore Erica Buening, who made a pair of corner 3s in the first four minutes of the game, wound up playing just 16 minutes due to an apparent foot injury. Classmate Scarlett Kimbrell also hit a pair from deep in the first half but only attempted one in the second half.
Nothing to lose
Senior Ashlyn Traylor picked up two early fouls while guarding Noblesville junior Ashlynn Shade — at least one of which appeared to be highly arguable — and as the plus-minus column on the box score indicated, the Grizzly Cubs suffered considerably.
Franklin trailed by 19 at the half, yet it was plus-4 during the short span (4:20) that Traylor was on the floor.
Not surprisingly, it was difficult for the senior to stay tethered to the bench while the Millers took control of the game.
“I got three iffy fouls in the first half,” Traylor said, “so it was tough watching them go on a run, but I had faith in my team.”
When Traylor — who transferred from Martinsville along with her younger sister, junior Adelyn Walker, in the fall —returned to the lineup in the second half, she played like a young woman possessed, scoring 11 of the Grizzly Cubs’ 14 third-quarter points while helping to cut the deficit from 21 points to 10.
“That was my mindset; we had nothing to lose,” she said. “We were down 19 at half, so I came out and I just tried to do me. I tried to do the best I could, and it didn’t fall our way.”
Traylor earned three victories over the Grizzly Cubs while playing for the Artesians, but she never enjoyed a season like this one.
“This was the best season I’ve had my whole four years,” she said. “The team, the coaches and the community made this season what it was.
“I never thought I would get a chance to play in a state championship. It was amazing.”
Emotions still there for Armstrong
Franklin assistant coach Mike Armstrong had been here before.
Nineteen years and two name changes to the building earlier, Armstrong was Perry Meridian’s head coach when the Falcons lost to Kokomo, 44-42, in the 4A championship game in 2003.
Now in his so-called retirement gig, Armstrong experienced the same nervous excitement during the Grizzly Cubs 76-52 loss to Noblesville.
And the same heartbreak for his players afterward.
“I’m emotionally invested because I want to win, and we’ve worked real hard to prepare the team to win,” said Armstrong, who won 426 games in his 34 seasons on the Falcons’ bench. “You understand the final decisions now lie with someone else. But honestly, my coaching staff at Perry Meridian was awesome, and I’ve seen the same thing at Franklin.
“I can tell you this: Losing in this game hurts as much as an assistant coach as it did a head coach.”
