BROWNSTOWN – Bedford North Lawrence spotted Brownstown a huge lead and could not make up the difference.
The Braves, ranked No.10 in Class 2A, exploded to a 19-0 lead before the Stars broke through. That early burst propelled the Braves to a 46-34 victory on Tuesday night. Claire Brock paced Brownstown (6-1) with 15 points as the Braves won the series renewal after a 42-year break.
The Stars (5-2) didn’t convert against Brownstown’s sticky zone defense until Miley Sherrill ended the first quarter with a trey.
“We dug ourselves a hole,” BNL coach Chase Spreen said. “You can’t do that against a good team. I saw us tense up. When that lead started growing, the anxiety picked up, like we had to score. From there, we only gave up 27 points. I have to give them credit, those next three quarters we did a good job.”
Sherrill finished with 14 points while Trinidy Bailey totaled 10. The Stars shot an icy 31 percent (11 of 35) overall.
“Offensively, they were so long and athletic in that zone, we missed some open looks,” Spreen said. “We needed to do a better job of attacking that off the dribble. We just didn’t make enough plays.”
Sophie Wischmeier, Jada Miller and Hailey Hobson all added 8 points each for Brownstown.
“We let them get too comfortable to start the game, which was not our plan,” Spreen said. “They banked in a 3-pointer to start the game, and when that happened, the floodgates opened. They just hit shot after shot.
”Our kids fought and battled, but as soon as we got close and felt like we were right there, they would hit a shot. We couldn’t quite close the gap.”
BNL will host Class 2A No.1 North Knox on Monday.
BEDFORD NL STARS (34)
3s FGs FTs F Pts
23 Sammie Nusbaum, f 1-2 2-6 0-0 3 5
22 Miley Sherrill, f 4-7 4-11 2-2 3 14
32 Trinidy Bailey, g 1-2 3-8 3-8 2 10
21 Jordan Blann, g 0-3 1-4 0-0 5 2
11 Paige Burton, g 0-3 1-4 0-0 0 2
12 Elahdy Ray 0-0 0-2 0-0 5 0
24 Caroline Sheldon 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
20 Bella Warren 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 1
31 Audrey Hoffman 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
44 Annie Watson 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 6-17 11-35 6-12 19 34
BROWNSTOWN BRAVES (46)
3s FGs FTs F Pts
32 Sophie Wischmeier, f 1-3 2-5 3-3 0 8
33 Hailey Hobson, f 1-1 2-2 3-4 3 8
42 Claire Brock, c 0-1 4-7 7-8 1 15
30 Jada Miller, g2-3 2-6 2-2 1 8
12 Harley Toppe, g 0-2 1-4 2-4 2 4
10 Brinley Baker 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
22 Aylah Belding 1-3 1-4 0-0 0 3
34 Charli Garrison 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 5-13 12-28 17-21 7 46
Bedford NL 3 11 5 15 – 34
Brownstown 19 5 9 13 – 46
Turnovers – BNL 15, Brownstown 16
Field goal percentage – BNL 11-35 (.314); Brownstown 12-28 (.428)
Free throw percentage – BNL 6-12 (.500); Brownstown 17-21 (.810)
