By RICHIE HALL
With two minutes to in the fourth quarter, it was starting to sink in for Noblesville coach Donna Buckley.
Her Millers girls basketball team was up big at the Class 4A Logansport semi-state, on its way to winning the championship over Crown Point and getting the Millers back to the state finals after 32 years.
The major emotion for Buckley was that of excitement, “being really excited for our community, being excited four our kids, and for me personally, it’s something that I’ve always wanted, a dream come true,” she said.
Now there’s one more game to play: The state championship itself. Fifth-ranked Noblesville will take on No. 2-ranked Franklin Community for the 4A title Saturday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis. Tipoff is scheduled for around 8:15 p.m., or following the 3A championship game between Silver Creek and South Bend Washington. The 3A game starts at 6 p.m.
NO SURPRISE
The appearance of the Grizzly Cubs in the state finals is clearly not a surprise. Franklin is 28-1 for the season, with its only loss of the year coming to Westfield, 42-40 in the semi-finals of the Hall of Fame Classic on Dec. 29 at New Castle. The Grizzly Cubs had won their first 16 games of the season before meeting the Shamrocks.
After dropping its Hall of Fame opener, Franklin beat Washington 58-47 in the third-place game. That was the first victory of a 12-game win streak that has carried the Grizzly Cubs into the 4A championship. Franklin began its tournament run by winning the Franklin Central sectional, where it beat Shelbyville 73-36 in the first round, Center Grove 56-49 in the semi-finals and Greenwood 65-44 in the championship.
Next for the Grizzly Cubs was the Columbus north regional, where they took care of East Central 78-65 in the semis before beating No. 3 Bedford North Lawrence 58-52 in the championship. Franklin then played at the Jasper semi-state, where it edged out Mooresville 49-46 to win the Grizzly Cubs’ first semi-state since 1998.
Franklin is a relatively young team. The Grizzly Cubs have only two seniors, but those seniors are the leading scorers and two likely starters. Ashlyn Traylor, a 5-9 guard who moved in from Martinsville, is averaging 17.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. Kuryn Brunson, a 5-10 forward, is next with 14.2 points per game.
The other three probable starters are all sophomores. Erica Buening, a 5-9 forward, adds 7.1 points per game, while 5-11 forward Scarlett Kimbrell scored 6.3 points and leads the rebounding with 4.7 per contest. Lauren Klem, a 5-2 guard, rounds out the lineup. Junior guard Adelyn Walker, at 5-7, contributes 8.4 points off the bench; she is Traylor’s sister and also transferred from Martinsville.
“They’re really good,” said Buckley. “The move-ins helped them a lot.”
Franklin is a decent long-range shooting team. The Grizzly Cubs are 34 percent from the 3-point line, having made 272 out of 795 attempts this season. In fact, Franklin has made just as many 3-point attempts as it has two-point attempts (841).
“They shoot the 3 a lot, more than any team I’ve ever coached against,” said Buckley.
Kimbrell leads the Grizzly Cubs in 3-point baskets with 55, while Klem has made 50 triples.
“They’re just a little different in style than what we normally see,” said Buckley.
The coach said Franklin plays different defenses, including man-to-man and zone – “a little of several different things,” she said.
Of course, at this point in the tournament, there are no secrets, and no one is going to try anything new at the state finals.
“They know what we do, we know what they do,” said Buckley. “It’s just going to come down to who can execute better and be more fundamentally sound.”
TOUGH ROAD
Noblesville will come into Gainbridge Fieldhouse with a 24-4 record. The Millers’ losses were to Fishers, Westfield, Bedford North Lawrence and Zionsville, but they would avenge two of those losses during the tournament.
First up was Sectional 8 at Westfield, which was easily the toughest in Indiana. The Millers beat Zionsville 62-46 in the first round, Carmel 57-48 in the semi-finals and No. 7 Fishers 54-48 in the final, giving Noblesville back-to-back sectional titles.
Then it was off to the Marion regional, where the Millers won easily, defeating No. 1 Homestead 61-40 in the semi-finals and No. 10 Fort Wayne Snider 78-63 in the championship. Then last Saturday at Logansport, Noblesville took care of No. 4 Crown Point, the defending 4A state champions, 62-41.
Junior Ashlynn Shade, the 5-10 guard who is committed to the University of Connecticut, leads the Millers’ scoring with 20.5 points and rebounds with 8.4 per game. Sophomore Reagan Wilson, a 5-8 guard, is next with 9.9 points, and she also is on top of the assist list with 4.3 per contest. Shade is handing out 4.1 assists per game.
Freshman Meredith Tippner, a 5-9 guard, is contributing 9.7 points and 6.3 rebounds, with junior Kaitlyn Shoemaker adding 9.2 points; she leads the 3-point basket count with 46. Junior Brooklyn Smitherman, a 6-4 forward, rounds out the probably starter list with 3.3 points and 3.3 rebounds. Junior Dani Mendez, a 5-11 forward, has been solid off the bench with 3.7 rebounds and 3.2 points per game. Junior Brooklyn Ely, a 5-5 guard and sophomore Ava Shoemaker, a 5-9 forward with 4.8 points per game, will likely add solid minutes as well.