By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – Eager for a restart, Bedford North Lawrence will revert back to the old, proven ways for success as it prepares for the opening act of the 2025-26 regular season.
The letter E was skipped on the grading scale because 1930s educators thought it would be misinterpreted as “excellent”. The only way for the Stars to avoid lower marks this season will be earning excellent grades on new coach Chase Spreen’s E scale – effort and execution.
BNL, with a short turnaround from the lessons learned during the final preseason scrimmage, will begin this new era with a long road trip to Sullivan – a renewal of an ancient postseason rivalry – on Thursday night. With only one last-minute practice session to complete the studying and fixing (do they still call that cramming?) from revealed issues in the public workout at Columbus North, the Stars will look to begin the campaign with a springboard victory.
Spreen, the 13th head coach in the program’s storied history, served as a BNL assistant for nine seasons and helped hang one of those state championship banners in the rafters. His focus will be on the fundamentals that made that success possible.
”We’re going to rely on things we’ve always relied on, our effort and execution,” he said. “Those are things that have always been non-negotiable here, the reason we’ve been consistently successful. These kids have to understand we will go against teams that might be a little more talented than we are, but that doesn’t mean anything. As long as we’re buying into what we’re trying to do, we will be able to compete with anyone on our schedule.”
BNL, even with returning starters and veterans, is still a young team with only two seniors (Paige Burton and Trinidy Bailey) on the roster. The scoring leaders will be junior wing Miley Sherrill (10.3 last season) and Bailey (5.3), with Jordan Blann (4.1) providing a perimeter threat. The Stars will be looking to drastically improve offensive numbers (40.5 points per game, 31 percent shooting) from a year ago, when they won only seven games.
”The kids we will rely on will be Miley and Trinidy, and Paige has done a good job as well,” Spreen said. “The kids have done a good job of showing up and being ready. We don’t have distractions, we’re focused every day in practice. They’ve matured a lot.”
Sullivan will be seeking a new identity. The Golden Arrows graduated 6-0 center Jacie Wilson, who averaged 16 points and 10 rebounds. She finished with 1,139 career points, ninth in school history. So that’s a big void to fill.
“It will be difficult to replace Jacie,” Sullivan coach Vance Edmondson said. “We played through her last year. Our biggest challenge will be replacing her and finding ways to score. We are going to lean on our defense to kickstart our offense.”
The rest of Sullivan’s lineup returns, featuring senior Ally McKinney and sophomore Rigley Goodman, who both contributed 10 points per game last season as the Arrows shot to a 15-9 record.
“I expect BNL to be similar to us, guard heavy, like to push in transition,” Edmondson said. “We have to be able to slow Sherrill down and keep an eye on Bland. We can’t give up easy three-point shots.”
BNL is looking for a positive first step. That would go a long way toward restoring confidence.
”It’s very important,” Spreen said. “The kids are hungry for it. They’ve worked hard in the offseason. I know it will be a tough game, it’s on the road, against a team that has four starters back. But they’ll be ready, they will compete. We will do our best to put them in the best position to win.
”They’ve worked hard, they deserve it, and we will do our best to finish it off.”
BNL at SULLIVAN
When: Thursday, 7:30 p.m.
Records: BNL 0-0; Sullivan 0-0
Last meeting: BNL prevailed 84-56 in the 1992 regional.
Game notes: The Stars and Golden Arrows have met five times in the postseason. Sullivan went 15-9 last season.
Starting lineups
Bedford NL Stars
F – Sammie Nusbaum 5-10 Jr.
F – Trinidy Bailey 5-7 Sr.
F – Miley Sherrill 5-9 Jr.
G – Jordan Blann 5-2 Jr.
G – Paige Burton 5-3 Sr.
Sullivan Golden Arrows
G – Ally McKinney 5-7 Sr.
G – Rigley Goodman 5-3 So.
G – Katherine Sarver 5-6 Sr.
G – Avari Kelley 5-5 Sr.
F – Kinley Mason 5-8 Jr.
