During a timeout early in the second quarter, Indian Creek coach Brian Ferris, his team trailing by 11 points, encouraged players to look at the near-capacity crowd inside their gym.
If nothing else, he reasoned, this could be the wind that pushes the sail.
A partisan gathering combined with composure when it most mattered were definite factors as the state’s fourth-ranked squad in Class 3A remained undefeated with a 65-59 victory over Franklin on Tuesday.
Now 6-0, the Braves, winners against the 2021-22 4A runner-up only a week earlier in the first round of the Johnson County tournament, assembled an 8-2 scoring run in the final 2 minutes, 23 seconds that was the difference.
“Oh, (Franklin) came out hitting,” said Indian Creek senior guard Abby Fleetwood, whose 14 points nicely complemented the 24 scored by junior guard Lauren Foster and junior center Faith Wiseman’s double-double of 15 points, 10 rebounds.
“I feel like they hit every single 3 that they took early, so that was rough. But I knew we could do it. Our team, we can do anything we want if we just put everything together and work as a team. Everybody has their role. We’re just a big family.”
The score was deadlocked at 57-57 when sophomore guard Ayla Lollar made the second of two free throws. Indian Creek followed with Wiseman’s putback after rebounding her own miss, a Fleetwood charity and two more from Foster, who finished the game 11 of 11 from the foul stripe.
Franklin, which fell to 3-3, was led by junior forward Brooklyn York’s 21 points. Junior wing Erica Buening and senior guard Kyndell Jochim added 14 and 13, respectively.
“I think some of our maturity is starting to show,” Ferris said. “We’re a little bit older, we’ve weathered some storms before, so we’re expecting that out of some of our upperclassmen. We talk about it all the time. Basketball is a game of runs.
“You’ve just got to try to stop them as quick as you can. If they go off a little bit, you can’t get down, especially early in the game because you’ve got so much time left.”
In the night’s first game, the Franklin boys squad placed three players in double figures to down Indian Creek, 70-34, in what was the season opener for both teams.
Junior guard Wyatt Nickleson misfired on his first three 3-point tries, then made six of his next seven field goal attempts to lead all scorers with 19 points. Senior center John Shepard came off the bench to add 12 points, while junior guard Nate Corley added 10 points and five rebounds.
The Cubs owned the glass, grabbing 29 boards to Indian Creek’s 14.
Franklin knocked down six 3-pointers in the second stanza alone to blow the game open after holding a 14-11 advantage after one quarter.
The lead was a single point at 4:41 of the second when the Grizzly Cubs made good on three triples from the right baseline in a matter of 1 minute, 15 seconds.
Junior wing Ryder Street started the flurry, followed by Nickleson matching it and Street then burying another.
Those shots, coupled with Shepard (10 first-half points) dominating the interior, made for a 41-22 halftime lead.
“It seems that this time of year, there just aren’t enough hours in the day, so you don’t necessarily feel super prepared going into the first game,” second-year Grizzly Cubs coach Adrian Moss said. “But we looked prepared.
“I think it’s just kudos to these guys. They grind. They show up to play, they’ve got great attitudes and they play hard.”
Leading Indian Creek was sophomore wing Landon Sichting with 18 points, a total that included 11 of his team’s first 13 points.
