NORTH VERNON – Mollie Ernstes is not in Kansas – yet. But she’s headed there, and she doesn’t need to click any red heels together to get there.
Ernstes, Jennings County’s Indiana All-Star candidate and Kansas recruit, scored 31 points as the Panthers popped Bedford North Lawrence 55-37 in a key Hoosier Hills Conference clash on Tuesday night. Jennings (13-4 overall, 4-0 in the league) took over sole possession of the conference lead while ending BNL’s four-game winning streak.
After a quiet start, Ernstes scored 11 points in the second quarter to give the Panthers (ranked No.7 in Class 3A) a 27-22 halftime lead, then broke loose for 11 more in the fourth quarter as Jennings pulled away.
Etta Young added 12 points for the Panthers.
”The disappointing thing wasn’t Mollie,” BNL coach Chase Spreen said. “We were hoping to limit her a little more than what we did, but the role players impacted the game. Not scoring much, but they got a lot of offensive rebounds and things like that. Those are the irritating things.”
Trinidy Bailey paced the Stars (12-5 overall, 3-1 in the league) with 11 points while Miley Sherrill added 8.
“In the second half, we were lethargic,” Spreen said. “We let teams that deny or pressure us, it bothers us. We need to be ready for those things. We let their pressure get to us. They played our personnel pretty well. We have to do a better job in the little things to beat a team like that.
”We have to learn what we can. Our focus is getting better. I know the kids are disappointed. It’s been a while since we got thumped like that. Hopefully we respond to it. Maybe it’s something we needed to wake up, to make sure we’re not taking things for granted.”
BNL will visit Indian Creek on Saturday.
BEDFORD NL STARS (37)
3s FGs FTs F Pts
23 Sammie Nusbaum, f 2 2 0-0 1 6
22 Miley Sherrill, f 2 2 2-2 1 8
32 Trinidy Bailey, g 1 5 0-0 3 11
21 Jordan Blann, g 2 2 0-0 0 6
11 Paige Burton, g 0 2 0-1 0 4
12 Elahdy Ray 0 1 0-0 1 2
24 Caroline Sheldon 0 0 0-0 0 0
20 Bella Warren 0 0 0-0 0 0
31 Audrey Hoffman 0 0 0-0 0 0
44 Annie Watson 0 0 0-0 0 0
Totals 6 12 2-3 6 37
JENNINGS COUNTY PANTHERS (55)
3s FGs FTs F Pts
24 Etta Young, f 0 5 2-2 3 12
13 Riley Byford, g 1 3 0-0 0 7
31 Molllie Ernstes, g 1 13 3-4 0 31
12 Addison Petro, g 0 1 0-0 0 2
11 Kaydence Lowman, g 1 1 0-0 1 3
2 Ella Hubbard 0 0 0-0 0 0
4 Hailey Dunham 0 0 0-0 0 0
5 Aniston Kent 0 0 0-0 0 0
22 Amelia Gresham 0 0 0-0 0 0
Totals 4 23 5-6 5 55
Bedford NL 9 13 7 8 – 37
Jennings County 11 16 15 13 – 55
