By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
SCOTTSBURG – Call wardrobe, get that Emma Brown a cape for her Bedford North Lawrence uniform. Super heroes wear them, after all. And wow, did she ever swoop in to save the day.
In a gymnasium that oozes history, where the echoes of the past still whisper in the rafters, Brown had a performance for the ages. Never mind that it was a scrimmage, with no official statistics, no recorded numbers for future reference. When the Stars were in danger, at least of some embarrassment, Brown transformed from the smallest kid on the court to a guardian of their galaxy.
Her forte? From downtown, Brown was renowned. The slender senior guard, who missed last season with a knee injury, showed her true worth during the IHSAA sanctioned scrimmage at Scottsburg on Thursday night, stroking 9 treys – count ‘em, nine – to power BNL to a ‘victory’ over the Warriorettes.
Brown totaled 31 points as the Stars finished the four quarters with a 68-62 win. Each quarter (12 minutes of a running clock, with designated defenses and few free throws awarded) was played as its own entity, although the Stars won three of the four. They faltered during the zone period, gave up way too many points for coach Jeff Allen’s liking, but unveiled a weapon deluxe.
Go ahead, zone the Stars. Scottsburg preferred that option, sitting back in that mode for the final three quarters. That meant Brown had multiple open looks. At some point, she even wondered if she was launching too many. After all, she’s got two future All-Stars next to her. “Yes, I did a few times,” Brown said with a wide smile. “But they never told me not to shoot.”
Brown was in the zone, hitting 9 of 17 bombs. Chloe Spreen had 17 points and Karsyn Norman added 14 as BNL finished its preseason work with exactly what it needed: a positive outcome, some exposed but fixable flaws, and another sidekick for the Norman-Spreen dynamic duo. Batgirl, after all, wore a cape.
“How about that,” Allen said. “That’s a pretty good day. To have somebody like that and a performance like that, I’m happy for her.”
Scottsburg’s venerable Meyer Gymnasium, opened in 1956, witnessed some greatness during its heyday. Brown, with BNL making its first trip to Scottsburg since the 2011-12 season, added her new name to the old stories. Golden State has its Splash Brothers, BNL now has a Swish Sister. And the irony of it was how the night started.
“In warm-ups, I wasn’t hitting anything,” Brown revealed. “I was like, ‘OK, great.’ Then I hit the first one, and the second one . . .” And finally the ninth one.
BNL started with the expected firestorm, racing to a 13-2 lead against halfcourt man-to-man. Spreen slashed the baseline and discarded a defender for a bucket, Brown splashed a pair from deep, Mallory Pride worked free on a pass from Madisyn Bailey, and Norman popped from long range.
Then the Warriorettes showed up. And a blowout became a ballgame, in a hurry. Scottsburg closed within 17-16 to end that quarter. When the defenses switched to zone for the second, they shot the Stars full of holes, scoring nine straight points during a late break from a 10-10 deadlock to win that period 19-12. Got BNL’s attention. If keeping track, that was a 33-16 smack in the mouth after the first BNL burst.
“Just our effort, not giving up, the intensity,” Scottsburg coach Carrie Daniels, a 1991 Scottsburg graduate, said of the turnaround. “Bedford is an unbelievable team, that‘s why we wanted to scrimmage them. It‘ s about seeing what we need to work on. We knew they would exploit our weaknesses. That way we won’t have a false sense, maybe think we’re better than what we are.”
BNL showed its better side during the final two frames, when it was allowed to full-court press. With Spreen burying three straight 3-pointers, with Norman dropping a soft 10-footer on the baseline, the Stars raced to a 19-11 lead in the third. With Brown dropping three more treys, with Norman snaking the baseline for a reverse layup, with Bailey picking off a steal for a layup, BNL closed the final quarter up 20-16. Add ‘em up, that’s 68-62.
Hannah Stutsman paced Scottsburg, more balanced in its attack, with 14 points. Ellie Richardson totaled 12, Lola Fouts added 11 and Carrie Hiler totaled 10. Stutsman is the only senior among that foursome, so perhaps the BNL-Scottsburg rivalry could be renewed when everything counts. “Back when I played,” Daniels said, “that was the big rivalry.”
“They’ve got some tradition here, too,” Allen said, and anyone who took the quick tour of the Meyer lobby could see those old photos, or glance up at the multiple banners above the court. “I thought they played really well. It was a great scrimmage. They’re very competitive. It was good for us. We saw a lot of things, good and bad, that we needed to see.
“There were defensive breakdowns I wasn’t happy about. The zone quarter, we don’t play a lot of zone. It’s something maybe we need to work on and get better, but we had man-to-man breakdowns. We’ll see a lot of zone. Our speed and our ability in the halfcourt makes people want to zone us. We have to get better against it. When you makes shots, it’s easy.”
BNL will now open the regular season against Mooresville next week. That exact date (either Nov. 3 of 4) will be determined by BNL and Mooresville’s success – or lack thereof – in the football sectional.
BNL 68, SCOTTSBURG 62
BNL – Chloe Spreen 17, Emma Brown 31, Mallory Pride 4, Karsyn Norman 14, Madisyn Bailey 2
Scottsburg – Carrie Hiler 10, Haley Thomas 5, Hannah Stutsman 14, Ellie Richardson 12, Katrina Cooper 4, Lola Fouts 11, Abbey Martin 6
