Noblesville’s Ashlynn Shade puts up a shot between Franklin defenders Adelyn Walker, left, and Scarlett Kimbrell during Saturday’s Class 4A state final.
Sam Findley | For the Daily Journal
INDIANAPOLIS
Kuryn Brunson and Ashlyn Traylor achieved the objective of completing their high school basketball careers on the ultimate stage on Saturday night.
The end result inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse, however, contradicted what the Franklin seniors had been envisioning the last three months.
Noblesville took a pin to a dream bubble the size of Johnson County as the Millers rode their fast start and the 31 points of junior guard Ashlynn Shade to a 76-52 victory over the Grizzly Cubs in the Class 4A state championship game.
Franklin, making its first state finals appearance since the 3A runner-up team in 1998, finished 28-2.
“It was an amazing season for all of us,” said the 5-foot-8 Traylor, who battled foul trouble from the outset and still wound up leading the Cubs with 18 points, six rebounds and two steals. “It wasn’t how we wanted it to end, but it is what it is. We still had a fantastic season.
“Not everyone can say they did this.”
The Grizzly Cubs jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead to open the game, but Traylor, the team’s leading scorer coming in, was saddled with two quick fouls and didn’t return until 6:02 of the second quarter.
“It was huge,” said Sabol of Traylor’s second foul. “When I look back on this game, I’ll remember foul trouble, turnovers and then we tried to guard (Shade) a bunch of different ways. She’s a heck of a player.”
During Traylor’s absence, Franklin was unable to find its rhythm offensively, and proved virtually powerless to stop the 5-foot-9 Shade, whose low-arc 8- to 10-foot turnaround jumpers in the lane were on target most the night.
Shade verbally committed to play college basketball at the University of Connecticut last month, and she’ll be the clear front-runner for Indiana Miss Basketball in 2023.
By the time Traylor returned to the floor, Noblesville had built a 28-16 lead. She then picked up her third personal at 3:53 of the second, again somewhat limiting what Franklin could do defensively.
The Millers stretched the margin to 49-28 early in the third, but Franklin had one more run in it.
Traylor scored 11 of her points in the third stanza, igniting a 9-0 scoring run to end the quarter that trimmed the deficit to 11 points. A Brunson free throw 21 seconds into the final quarter made it 10, but, just like that, Noblesville tallied the next 13 points to put it away.
Sabol took Brunson out of the game with 1:25 showing and the outcome long decided, wrapping her in a hug that lasted a good 15 seconds.
“I just thanked her,” Sabol said. “When she got here, we were a below-.500 program. For her to lead this team and to win the Mental Attitude Award and get here to the state championship, I couldn’t ask anything more. I love that kid.”
Brunson had six points, six boards and two assists in her final game as a Grizzly Cub.
“It was more than basketball this year,” Brunson said. “We had the chip on our shoulder after (losing) semistate last year, and we created friendships and memories. It’s going to be tough. My community has been everything to me since I was in third grade.
“Their support tonight and their support this entire season has meant more to me than I think I’ll ever really know.”
With another step forward taken in the postseason, Franklin can begin to look forward to next season. Sophomore starters Erica Buening, Scarlett Kimbrell and Lauren Klem, a trio that has been part of successful ball clubs since elementary school, all return.
It’s a group that will undoubtedly benefit from playing in a state final.
The chip on the Grizzly Cubs’ collective shoulder that Brunson referred to isn’t going anywhere.
“The team will definitely look different, but I think we’ll be just fine,” Kimbrell said. “The flow of the ball will definitely be different, but we’re good at adjusting. I think it will fall back in place. We’re not left with nothing.
“We still have good players and our lineup is deep. We’ll still be good next year.”
Buening, Kimbrell and junior guard Adelyn Walker all had eight points in against the Millers. They, along with Klem, sophomore Brooklyn York and others will form the nucleus of the 2022-23 Franklin squad.
“I think what it’s going to do is motivate us to get back,” Sabol said. “We were in the final four last year, and now it’s like, okay, one more step. We’ve got the type of kids in this program who are going to be hungry to return.”
