By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BLOOMINGTON – From one extreme to another, from severe drought to raging downpour, from dead in the water to devastating whirlwind, Bedford North Lawrence ran the gamut of polar opposites on the basketball spectrum.
Like the little girl in the famous Longfellow poem, the one with the little curl in the middle of her forehead, when the Stars were bad, they were horrid. And when they were good, they were very, very good. Fortunately, the great far outweighed the worst as BNL emphatically spanked Bloomington North on Tuesday night.
Recovering from a seven-minute scoreless span in the first half, BNL went nuclear in the fourth quarter, exploding for a 59-40 triumph over the Cougars. Trinidy Bailey matched her career high with 20 points, including 11 in the final frame to spark a sensational 21-2 run, as BNL topped North for the 15th consecutive time in the series.
Anyone who helicoptered into the gymnasium during the second quarter would have not thought that possible. BNL, playing like an angry teenager with pendulum mood swings, wasted a 9-point lead and fell behind by as many as 8 prior to intermission. As terrible as that span was, the finish was more amazing and overshadowed the earlier sins. All was forgiven with an impressive road victory.
Trailing 37-36 heading into the fourth quarter, BNL erupted without warning. Bailey did a lot of damage from all angles, scoring in the paint, popping a trey, converting a steal into a layup, cutting back door for a bucket, dropping a fadeaway into the lane. Paige Burton added three baskets during the decisive run, and Sammie Nusbaum finished it with a soft hook in the post.
“It just came down to execution,” BNL coach Chase Spreen said. “The kids knew what it was we were trying to accomplish, what the objective was. As long we could limit them to one possession, we could win the basketball game.
”In the first half, the big difference was we gave up a lot of offensive rebounds. In the second half, specifically in the fourth quarter, we cleaned it up.”
That’s true. North crushed the Stars on the offensive glass, collecting 18 offensive rebounds in the first three quarters. The Cougars (0-2) also had only one turnover during their 15-0 burst in the second period. Also true, in the final frame, those numbers reversed in dramatic fashion. North had six turnovers, and only one rebound, when BNL made its move.
“They were really worn down, so keeping up our tempo helped us,” Bailey said.
BNL started smoothly, with Miley Sherrill driving for a layup, drilling a trey, and slipping back door for a layup during a 9-2 breakout. Bailey’s bomb from the key gave the Stars a 15-6 advantage. Then came the unexpected collapse.
North’s run, fueled by second chances, includes three bombs from Lulu Frank and two rebound buckets by Ashley Stegemoller. BNL finally broke through with Nusbaum’s hook in the lane with 1:17 left, and she capped the half with a reverse layup that got the Stars within 26-20 at intermission.
“When Frank got hot, that was a big difference,” Spreen said. “She brought them back and separated them.”
“We had it under control,” Bailey said, although she didn’t alert others to that mindset at that moment. “It could have been a lot worse.”
It got a lot better. After North scripted its biggest lead with a Stegemoller trey to start the second half, the Stars battled back, with a 3-point play by Sherril, with 3-pointers by Nusbaum and Sherrill, igniting the charge.
“They responded incredibly well,” Spreen said. “We did an incredible job of containing them and forcing them into tough shots. We know we’re a good halfcourt defensive team. They took it to heart and got the job done.”
Sherrill finished with 17 points, Nusbaum totaled 11, and Burton added 8. Bailey had 16 points in the second half while hitting 6 of 7 shots during that span.
“That’s who Trin is. She’s a Bailey,” Spreen said. “We know we can rely on her in big moments. She knows we will rely on her a lot. The beauty of Trin is we can put her in a lot of different places. We can run her out on the floor, we can post her, and we found something in the interior with her. She converted.”
”The coaches were calling plays for me, and my teammates were getting me the passes to execute,” Bailey said. “Whoever is open, whoever is making shots, it doesn’t matter if it’s me or someone else.”
Frank finished with 17 points while Rilynn Williams added 11. Stegemoller had 8 points and 10 rebounds.
BNL (2-0) will complete its three-game road swing to start the season with a journey to Scottsburg on Friday night.
BEDFORD NL STARS (59)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
23 Sammie Nusbaum, f 1-2 5-11 0-0 5 2 11
22 Miley Sherrill, f 2-2 7-9 1-1 4 1 17
32 Trinidy Bailey, g 3-7 7-12 3-4 4 2 20
21 Jordan Blann, g 0-2 0-3 0-0 2 3 0
11 Paige Burton, g 0-0 4-6 0-0 3 2 8
12 Elahdy Ray 1-2 1-2 0-0 1 2 3
24 Caroline Sheldon 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
31 Audrey Hoffman 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
20 Bella Warren 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 7-14 24-43 4-5 22 13 59
BLOOMINGTON NORTH COUGARS (40)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
13 Audrey Burton, f 0-2 2-15 0-0 7 1 4
12 Ashley Stegemoller, f 1-2 3-5 1-5 10 1 8
5 Kate Lehr, g 0-0 0-6 0-0 7 1 0
23 Lulu Frank, g 3-8 5-14 4-6 1 3 17
3 Rilynn Williams, g 0-0 4-5 3-4 1 0 11
2 C.J. Bell 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
15 Jossilyn Draughn 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Totals 4-15 14-45 8-13 31 7 40
Bedford NL 15 5 16 23 – 59
Bl. North 6 20 11 3 – 40
Turnovers – BNL 13, North 17
Field goal percentage – BNL 24-43 (.558); North 14-45 (.311)
Free throw percentage – BNL 4-5 (.800); North 8-13 (.615)
