Franklin’s Kyndell Jochim, left, and Erica Buening react to Saturday’s Class 4A state championship loss to Noblesville at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
INDIANAPOLIS
All winter long, the Franklin girls basketball team lived up to high expectations, regularly proving that it was one of the best teams in the state of Indiana and perhaps the entire country.
On Saturday night, the Grizzly Cubs finally ran into a better one.
Led by 31 points from star junior Ashlynn Shade, Noblesville rudely ended Franklin’s dream season with a 76-52 victory in the Class 4A state championship game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The Grizzly Cubs finish the season with a 28-2 record.
“We dug ourselves a hole,” Franklin coach Josh Sabol said, “but you know what? That third quarter, we battled all the way back, and I just think in the fourth quarter … we just couldn’t turn the corner. We just used a lot of energy to get it back to being competitive.”
Shackled by three first-half fouls against leading scorer Ashlyn Traylor, Franklin saw an early 11-9 lead turn into a 49-28 deficit by the opening seconds of the third quarter. The Grizzly Cubs battled back to get within 10 points early in the fourth before a three-point play by Shade with 7:17 remaining began a 23-4 blitz that put the Millers back in command.
A transfer from Martinsville, Traylor led the Grizzly Cubs with 18 points in her final high school game despite playing less than 19 minutes. Scarlett Kimbrell, Erica Buening and Adelyn Walker each added eight points in defeat.
Kuryn Brunson, the team’s only other senior besides Traylor, battled a cold shooting night to finish with six points and six rebounds; Brunson was also named the winner of the Mental Attitude Award after the game.
Despite the setback, Sabol was proud of how his girls handled the pressure throughout the season.
“Our girls, I think they relished it,” he said. “They’re a competitive group, and I think they liked the fact that every night we took the floor, we were expected to win. Having that target on your back all year, I thought our girls, they thrived on that.”
