By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – On Senior Day, experience made the difference. Except it was Class A power Borden, with five seniors who have been through the battles and won a state championship banner, that spoiled a celebration with the kind of finish expected from veterans.
Holding Bedford North Lawrence scoreless during the final five minutes, the Braves popped the balloons and scraped the icing off the cake with a rugged 43-36 victory over the Stars on Saturday afternoon. BNL (16-7) honored seniors Trinidy Bailey and Paige Burton during the pregame festivities, but Borden (18-4) made the critical plays to end BNL’s 15-game winning streak on its Senior sendoff.
Ava Wheeler, recently back from ACL surgery on her brace-protected right knee, converted a steal into a go-ahead layup, Emma Hart scored from close range on a pass from Riley Rarick, and BNL fired blanks in response. Borden, ranked No.3 in Class A, pulled away with free throws during the last minute while winning in BNL Fieldhouse for the first time.
When Bailey cut back door for a layup with 5:20 left, the Stars owned a 36-33 advantage and seemed to have Borden exactly where they wanted their formidable foe. BNL had shot them out of their pesky 1-3-1 zone with a sizzling 11-0 run to take the lead, and Borden’s switch to man-to-man defense seemed to work in BNL’s favor. It did not.
“We wanted to get them in man, and when we did, we didn’t execute to the standard we hold ourselves,” BNL coach Chase Spreen said. “We just have to do a better job of execution. It was hard to score at the rim because they have length, and on some possessions we missed open looks.
”We have to be more patient. We have to be willing, if the first look or second look – even the third look – isn’t there, we have other things we can go to. We took either unnecessary shots or had unnecessary turnovers. It all happened in crunch time.”
Neither team could be accused of offensive excellence. Both had 19 turnovers. Both shot raggedly, with the Stars relying on feast-or-famine bombs from long range. BNL went 0–for-8 from there while falling behind in the second quarter, made three in rapid-fire succession while rallying, then misfired five times from deep in the closing run.
“That’s been our M.O. this year, everyone is like that,” Spreen said. “When you make shots, you’re pretty good. When you don’t, you’re going to struggle. You have to credit them, their defense was pretty good.”
Borden, the defending Class A state champion, showed its grit. BNL hit only 13 of 41 shots (including an icy 6 of 30 from the bonus line).
“I can’t say we were great offensively, but we made enough plays, and our defense was pretty phenomenal those last five minutes,” Borden coach Matt Vick said. “Luckily they missed some shots, they made some bad decisions passing, and we were able to capitalize.
“It shows their maturity. Bedford has a history of good teams, so any time you can come in here and win, it speaks a lot about our mental toughness late in the game.”
Borden took control in the second quarter with a 9-2 spurt. Wheeler wheeled inside for a layup, Rarick slipped through for a tough drive, and Hart added a 4-footer in the lane as the Braves took a 23-16 lead at intermission. BNL’s best burst came in final minutes of the third as Miley Sherrill chased down a rebound for an 8-footer in the paint, followed by treys from Sammie Nusbaum, Jordan Blann and Bailey for BNL’s biggest lead at 32-28.
The Stars stayed in front as Blann snuck inside for a right-handed floater, and Bailey beat her defender for the layup and 36-33 advantage that would signal BNL’s fleeting ability to score.
“I feel awful for the kids,” Spreen said. “They battled back. It’s just the way it fell today. It didn’t go our way.
”That was our worst day of turnovers. Early, the emotions were part of it. The kids were fired up, they wanted to play well for Trinidy and Paige. We just didn’t do what it took to get the win, which was unfortunate.”
Rarick paced Borden with 14 points, A.J. Mallard (who joined the 1,000-point club for her career with the first trey of the game) totaled 13 and Hart finished with 9.
Bailey had 12 points and Nusbuam added 10 for the Stars.
BNL will now focus on the Class 4A sectional at New Albany. The Stars will meet the Bulldogs in the semifinal round on Friday night.
BORDEN BRAVES (43)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
22 Emma Hart, f 0-0 2-3 5-7 7 2 9
3 Ava Wheeler, f 0-0 3-5 0-0 6 2 6
2 Riley Rarick, g 0-6 5-14 4-8 4 2 14
11 A.J. Mallard, g 2-6 3-7 5-5 3 2 13
5 McKenna Mullen, g 0-0 0-1 1-2 4 0 1
12 Saylor Schleicher 0-1 0-2 0-0 0 1 0
Totals 2-13 13-32 15-22 29 9 43
BEDFORD NL STARS (36)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
23 Sammie Nusbaum, f 2-5 3-6 2-4 5 2 10
22 Miley Sherrill, f 1-6 3-10 0-0 9 2 7
32 Trinidy Bailey, g 2-8 5-11 0-2 4 3 12
21 Jordan Blann, g 1-8 2-10 0-0 3 2 5
11 Paige Burton, g 0-1 0-2 0-0 0 5 0
12 Elahdy Ray 0-2 0-2 2-2 2 1 2
Totals 6-30 13-41 4-8 23 15 36
Borden 12 11 7 13 – 43
Bedford NL 10 6 16 4 – 36
Turnovers – Borden 19, BNL 19
Field goal percentage – Borden 13-32 (.406); BNL 13-41 (.317)
Free throw percentage – Borden 15-22 (.682); BNL 4-8 (.500)
