GBB: Disasterous first quarter dooms Shelbyville in loss to Franklin

A
veteran Franklin squad hit 12 of its first 13 shots to build a 32-2
lead after one quarter Wednesday at Garrett Gymnasium in Shelbyville
and coasted to an 80-38 victory.

The Lady Golden Bears (1-17)
had little time to prepare since its last game on Jan. 24 at Delta.
With snow blanketing the area, even practicing has been difficult. And
when the Bears took the court Wednesday, they looked rusty against a
Franklin squad playing its final game of the regular season.

“They
were definitely ready to play,” Shelbyville coach Stacie Cepin said.
“It showed some of their maturity. They didn’t back down, and they
attacked us from the get-go.”

Cepin burned two timeouts within
the first four minutes of the game trying to get her team to settle in,
but the Lady Grizzly Cubs (14-6) kept knocking down shots.

Franklin led 9-0 before Caitlin Mills scored on an offensive rebound for Shelbyville. Franklin’s next 23 points went unanswered.

Franklin
freshman guard Shelby Parmer outscored Shelbyville in the second
quarter 9-6 to help her team take a 45-8 lead into halftime.

As the Bears have done on several occasions this year, they tend to relax when the game is already decided.

And in the third quarter against Franklin’s starting five. Shelbyville showed up.

Chelsea Weaver had seven of her game-high 15 points in the third quarter as Shelbyville outscored Franklin 16-11.

“When
we take care of the basketball, be aggressive and go to the hole and
knock down some shots… that’s the difference,” Cepin said. “I don’t
care how they’re playing us. We have to have that fire the whole game.
I hope we learn from that. There is no excuse. I don’t care how many
days we had off.”

All 13 Franklin players scored in the win led
by Lindsay Vandivier and Chelsea Bujarsky getting 14. No other Lady
Grizzly Cub scored in double digits in a balanced effort.

Franklin shot 80 percent from the field in the first quarter and finished the game at 52 percent.

After a 4-of-18 first-half performance, Shelbyville finished the game shooting 40 percent.

Despite
having one more home game Friday against Triton Central, Shelbyville
honored its three seniors prior to the start of the varsity game.

Bailee
Runnebohm and Kaitlan Hudson both started against Franklin while Lesley
Sammons was in uniform despite still recovering from a broken ankle
suffered in mid-December.

Sammons could return to the court at
the New Palestine Sectional on Feb. 13. Her physical presence on the
court has been sorely missed this season.

“She is probably the
strongest kid we have on the team,” Cepin said. “Right now, it’s one
day at a time. I know she wants to play. Being a senior, this is it.”