Franklin’s Brooklyn York, left, drives to the basket during Friday’s sectional game against Whiteland.
Chris Williams | For the Daily Journal
SHELBYVILLE
Franklin had to sweat out every bit of its first-round tournament game against Columbus North on Tuesday evening. The Grizzly Cubs left nothing to chance on Friday.
Last year’s state runner-up in Class 4A led wire to wire in beating Whiteland, 66-43, in the semifinal round of the Shelbyville Sectional.
Next up for Franklin (17-5) is a date with the host Golden Bears in tonight’s championship contest. Shelbyville held off Columbus East to win Friday’s nightcap, 65-62.
“I really felt like the layoff that we had because we didn’t play Jennings County that last week of the season … we were just a little rusty and a little slow and a little lethargic on Tuesday,” Franklin coach Mike Armstrong said. “Tonight, after having another game under our belt … we were better tonight.”
The Grizzly Cubs hit four 3-pointers in the opening period to build an early 18-9 cushion and were still ahead by nine after Erica Buening opened the second quarter with a putback bucket. The Warriors hung in there, beating the Franklin press for a couple of Addison Emberton layups to get within five, but Brooklyn York hit a 3 and then found Lauren Klem in the corner for another on the next trip to stretch the Grizzly Cub lead to double digits at 26-15 with 3:35 remaining in the half.
Franklin went into the break with a 31-16 advantage after sophomore Aubrey Runyon converted a three-point play with 2.4 seconds on the clock. Whiteland did not hit a shot from the floor during the final 5:55 of the half.
“We just really picked up our intensity,” York said of Franklin’s defensive effort. “We worked a lot these past couple of days on defense, on halfcourt especially. How to get up in passing lanes and just stay in front of your girl, and we worked on help side a lot too.”
“That was maybe as good of halfcourt defense that we’ve played maybe all year,” Armstrong agreed. “We were trying to keep them on one side of the floor, not let them get to their sets, and I thought our kids did a really good job of that.”
A 3-pointer by senior Emma Piercy in the opening minute of the third broke the Warrior drought, but it couldn’t stop the Grizzly Cubs from pulling away. A pair of deep balls from Scarlett Kimbrell keyed a run of 15 unanswered points that gave Franklin its biggest lead at 54-23 late in the quarter.
Whiteland fought back with an 11-2 surge, but by then its fate had been sealed.
“We just didn’t step on the gas like we should have,” Piercy said. “We didn’t come out with the energy and the effort that we did last game in the first half; we let them get on a run and get in our heads, and it went down from there.”
Kyndell Jochim paced a balanced Franklin scoresheet with 16 points; she was joined in double figures by York (12) and Kimbrell (10). Erica Buening and Emma Sappenfield finished with seven points apiece. For Whiteland, Emberton led the way with a game-high 17 points, while Gwen Higdon added 10 and Piercy contributed seven.
The Warriors finished the season with a 12-11 record, winning more games than it had in the two previous seasons put together.
“I’m really proud of these girls,” Whiteland coach Kellie Kirkhoff said. “The work that they’ve committed to putting in each and every day, to improving their skills so that our team and our program improves as well. That is a big part from Emma Piercy and Brooklyn Taylor, our two seniors. They’re great kids, they’re great leaders, and they work hard each and every day and have a good attitude, so we’ve got big shoes to fill in the future.”
