By RICHIE HALL
INDIANAPOLIS – She had just played 32 minutes of high-quality, super-intense basketball on Indiana’s biggest stage.
Also, Ashlynn Shade got an additional workout by holding up a big trophy, the one that the Noblesville girls basketball team won Saturday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis.
After the fifth-ranked Millers’ convincing 76-52 win over No. 2 Franklin Community in the Class 4A state championship game, wouldn’t Shade be a little tired? Maybe, but she didn’t feel that way.
“I feel like I can play another game right now,” said Shade. “My adrenaline’s going and I’m just so happy right now.”
That happiness was shared with her teammates, coaches and the thousands of Noblesville fans that packed the Fieldhouse. Everyone was waiting to see if the Millers could win a second state championship, finally adding a companion to the state title Noblesville won back in 1987.
It looked a little shaky at first, when the Grizzly Cubs scored the first five points of the game. But the Millers didn’t panic. Instead, Noblesville answered Franklin with a 7-0 spurt of its own.
“In this environment, we have nerves and they have nerves,” said Donna Buckley, who celebrated the conclusion to her 14th season coaching the Millers with a big win. “They hit a couple, and then once we settled in and got the ball in the paint, I thought that was the difference.”
A 3-pointer by Scarlett Kimbrell give the Grizzly Cubs an 11-9 lead, but Noblesville went on another run, this one nine unanswered points, and never trailed again.
“They love to shoot the 3,” said Buckley. “We were going to stay in our zone and pressure them, knowing we’re going to give up a lot of 3s.”
But Noblesville was willing to take its chances. It was a little risky, as Franklin is a team that collectively shoots 34 percent from long range, having made 272 triples coming into the 4A final. The Millers’ defense was able to hold the Grizzly Cubs’ 3-point shooting in check, as they made 6 of 24 from beyond the arc.
Meanwhile, Noblesville was having success inside. Twenty-four of the Millers’ 29 baskets were 2-pointers, with the majority layins and short jumpers. Noblesville was 24-of-40 from 2-point range for the game, a sizzling 60 percent.
“We wanted to pound the ball inside,” said Buckley. The coach said her team had “a lot of success” going inside, and that would help the Millers to weather any storms that Franklin’s long-range shooting would create.
Throughout the tournament, Noblesville made extended scoring runs its trademark. The state championship game was no exception. The Millers’ initial 9-0 run turned out to be the first leg of a 23-7 stretch that lasted well into the second quarter and gave Noblesville a 32-18 lead. Once the run was finished, the Millers’ lead never dipped below double digits again.
The runs also give Noblesville a chance to put its considerable depth on display. Shade, who is committed to the University of Connecticut, gets quite a bit of attention, and deservedly so – she is a special talent. But other Millers are capable of scoring as well.
During Noblesville’s first-half run, Ava Shoemaker poured in eight points, including a pair of 3s. Her second triple put the Millers on top 28-16, moving them into a double-digit advantage for the first time. Reagan Wilson added five points, including her own 3. Meredith Tippner and Dani Mendez both made baskets and Kaitlyn Shoemaker threw in a pair of free throws.
“It definitely feels amazing,” said Wilson. “And it’s also just so much pressure that we take off Ashlynn’s back because she doesn’t have to feel like she has to come out here and score 40 points every night. It’s just awesome to have so many threats that, defensively for the other team, it’s just like, ‘What do you do?'”
Of course, Shade has the capability to take over a game at any given moment. She did that in the second quarter, where she lit up the baskets for 14 points. Shade made two free throws with 2.2 seconds left in the half, and Noblesville was up 47-28 at the break.
Even though the Millers had a 19-point advantage, no lead is completely safe in post-season basketball. The Grizzly Cubs made their expected run in the third quarter, as their star senior Ashlyn Traylor scored 10 points during that period. Meanwhile, Noblesville was held to six points.
Buckley said that in the third quarter, “we honestly didn’t play bad. We missed two or three layups.” If the Millers make those layups, then they’re back up by 15 points and the pressure is back on Franklin, “but we missed them and then they come down and we kept fouling and putting them on the free throw line,” said the coach.
The closest Franklin got was 53-43, as Kuryn Brunson – who would win the Mental Attitude Award after the game – hit a free throw to get the Grizzly Cubs within 10. But Shade stepped up again, making a 3-point play with 7:17 to go.
After that, Buckley thought things would be going Noblesville’s way. “We just needed to make a shot and we did that and it was over after that,” she said.
Did Shade agree?
“One hundred percent. I think we had not our best third quarter, but you’re going to have that in basketball. They’re going to go on runs and you just got to figure it out, fight through that adversity,” said Shade.
Once the Millers had gotten past that adversity, they cruised through the fourth quarter, as Shade’s and-1 sparked a 13-0 run that got Noblesville’s lead over 20 points. The Millers kept rolling, and a Kaitlyn Shoemaker 3 gave them their largest lead at 76-47 with 1:25 left.
Buckley began to see that the dream was becoming reality “with two or three minutes to go” – the coach admitted that she didn’t realize Noblesville’s lead was growing so much during the fourth quarter.
“It hit, like, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re going to win this game,'” said Buckley. “It was such a great moment to realize what we’ve done and such a great moment for our community and just for our entire program.”
It was a something Shade had been thinking about from a young age.
“When I was in fourth grade, I went to the gym every single Friday night with my dad, hoping I’d be here one day and just to be here on this court with the championship is unreal,” said Shade.
It was also history-making. Shade finished the game with 31 points, tying the record for most points scored in a 4A championship game. Shade is the fourth player to reach that level, joining Terre Haute South’s Reicina Russell (2002), Carmel’s Chrissy Steffen (2008) and Columbus North’s Ali Patberg (2015). In all of those cases, each of those players led her team to the state title. Shade joins those ranks.
The victory gave Noblesville its 11th state championship in school history, and also marks the second time that the Millers have won state twice in the same school year. Noblesville’s boys soccer team won a 3A state title last fall. Back in the 1986-87 school year, the Millers won a girls golf state title to go with their first girls basketball title.
“We’ve got great athletes,” said Buckley. “Our administration is awesome. They put us in position as coaches to be able to go out and do the things that we need to do to win. Just super thankful for their support and our community support. We have great athletes that are willing to work hard and do whatever it takes to win.”
NOBLESVILLE 76, FRANKLIN COMMUNITY 52
Franklin FG FT TP PF
Lauren Klem 0-3 1-2 1 0
Kuryn Brunson 1-12 4-6 6 2
Scarlett Kimbrell 2-5 2-2 8 4
Erica Buening 2-5 2-2 8 2
Ashlyn Traylor 6-18 5-5 18 4
Adelyn Walker 3-6 2-2 8 4
Brooklyn York 0-1 0-0 0 1
Kyndell Jochim 0-0 0-0 0 0
Josie Phillips 0-0 0-0 0 0
Kennedy Urban 1-1 0-0 3 0
Emma Sappenfield 0-0 0-0 0 0
Addie Morris 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 15-51 16-19 52 17
Franklin 3-point shooting (6-24) Kimbrell 2-5, Buening 2-4, Traylor 1-5, Urban 1-1, Brunson 0-4, Klem 0-2, Walker 0-2, York 0-1.
Franklin rebounds (27) Brunson 6, Traylor 6, Kimbrell 5, Buening 3, Walker 2, Klem 1, Morris 1, team 3.
Noblesville FG FT TP PF
Kaitlyn Shoemaker 2-3 2-2 7 2
Ashlynn Shade 13-22 5-5 31 2
Reagan Wilson 5-8 0-0 12 2
Meredith Tippner 2-5 1-2 5 4
Brooklyn Smitherman 0-1 0-0 0 1
Dani Mendez 2-3 5-6 9 4
Ava Shoemaker 5-9 0-0 12 2
Brooklyn Ely 0-1 0-0 0 2
Aubrey Novinger 0-0 0-0 0 0
Kate Rollins 0-0 0-0 0 0
Carly Motz 0-0 0-0 0 0
Bri Gray 0-1 0-0 0 0 Totals 29-53 13-15 76 19
Noblesville 3-point shooting (5-13) Wilson 2-5, A. Shoemaker 2-4, K. Shoemaker 1-2, Shade 0-1, Ely 0-1.
Noblesville rebounds (35) Mendez 8, Shade 7, K. Shoemaker 5, Tippner 5, Wilson 2, Smitherman 2, A. Shoemaker 2, Motz 1, team 3.
Score by Quarters
Franklin 13 15 14 10 – 52
Noblesville 18 29 6 23 – 76