By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
AUSTIN – The mathematical equation was simple. Great start, minus tepid finish, equals a frustrating loss.
After breaking in front by double digits during the first six minutes, Bedford North Lawrence managed only eight baskets the final three quarters, allowing Jasper to battle back for a teeth-gnashing victory in the opening round of pool play in the Eagle Classic.
The Wildcats clawed their way from potential loss to tough win, conquering the Stars 38-36 on Monday afternoon. Ayla Elkins had 15 points as Jasper ended a seven-game losing streak in the series with a hardscrabble rally that was more defensive dominance than offensive execution.
BNL (8-4) struggled to convert open looks, going 8 of 38 during the last three quarters. Jasper (9-4) wasn’t exactly much better until the final frame, when the Wildcats took the lead in the last six minutes and refused to relinquish it.
The Stars stormed to a 14-3 lead before Jasper finally recorded its second field goal with 52 seconds left in the opening period. From that point, the Wildcats were relentless in pursuit. BNL slid off an icy shooting road and crashed.
“We struggled putting the ball in the basket,” Jasper coach Brittany Maners, a former BNL assistant, said of the early deficit. “We’ve been known to panic in those moments and get real impatient. We showed growth in that aspect. That goes back to composure. They stayed patient and continued to trust.“
BNL was superb at first. Jordan Blann drilled her first three treys and Miley Sherrill sliced the lane for a layup and the 11-point margin. Then inexplicably, the circumference of the rim seemed to shrink. Or it iced over.
“We missed too many makable shots around the basket, a lot of open looks,” BNL coach Chase Spreen said. “We have to figure out ways to win those games, we came up a little bit short.
”We looked fatigued. That’s not an excuse, but we have to figure out a way to generate offense. That’s part of it, you won’t make shots every game. We had been playing well on the offensive end.”
BNL, despite the shooting woes, was clinging desperately to the lead. Sammie Nusbuam’s rebound bucket gave the Stars a 22-15 halftime advantage, Sherrill’s 10-footer on the baseline kept BNL in front at 29-24 late in the third. From there, the Stars managed only two more buckets. One came from Trinidy Bailey, after Jasper took its first lead at 30-29 on back-to-back bankers from Brooke Kleiser. The second came from Sherrill, whose trey created a 36-36 deadlock with 2:50 left.
Elkins scored from the lane for the 38-36 lead, and the Stars misfired on every chance after that.
Kleiser added 11 points and 9 boards for the Wildcats.
BNL shot a dismal overall percentage (13 of 47), which included only 1 of 18 treys after Blann buried the first three.
“We knew they shoot a lot of threes, so we had to run them off the 3-point line,” Maners said. “Our help defense was better, we defended screens better. Any time you can hold a team to 36 points, you’re doing great things defensively. I’m proud of our effort.”
Sherrill, Bailey and Blann all totaled 9 points for BNL.
BEDFORD NL STARS (36)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
23 Sammie Nusbaum, f 0-2 2-6 1-2 9 3 5
22 Miley Sherrill, f 1-4 3-8 2-2 9 3 9
32 Trinidy Bailey, g 0-3 3-14 3-4 5 1 9
21 Jordan Blann, g 3-7 3-9 0-0 1 1 9
11 Paige Burton, g 0-1 0-3 0-0 3 2 0
12 Elahdy Ray 0-2 2-5 0-0 2 1 4
24 Caroline Sheldon 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 4-21 13-47 6-8 32 12 36
JASPER WILDCATS (38)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
32 Emily Kleiser, f 0-3 3-11 0-2 9 1 6
23 Brooke Kleiser, f 0-0 5-9 1-1 9 2 11
15 Lila Schmitt, f 0-1 0-2 1-4 2 1 1
11 Ella Clark, g 0-3 2-8 1-4 1 2 5
23 Ayla Elkins, g 1-7 7-13 0-0 8 1 15
32 Laney Werner 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 1 0
5 Clara Noblitt 0-0 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
3 Laci Hopf 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 1-14 17-45 3-11 32 8 38
Bedford NL 16 6 7 7 – 36
Jasper 6 9 11 12 – 38
Turnovers – BNL 7, Jasper 6
Field goal percentage – BNL 13-47 (.277); Jasper 17-45 (.378)
Free throw percentage – BNL 6-8 (.750); Jasper 3-11 (.273)
