By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – All summer, during offseason office conversations with her coach, Miley Sherrill kept asking the right question. What can I do? That’s the mindset and senior leadership role a four-year starter should take.
Her performance during Bedford North Lawrence’s season debut revealed the answer. Score more, without exponentially shooting more. Coaches love ‘E’ words like effort, execution, enthusiasm and energy, but the best of that alliteration arrangement is what Sherrill did best – efficiency.
Making the most of her open opportunities, Sherrill scored 20 points as the Stars smacked Sullivan 54-30 in the 2026-27 opener on Thursday night. Sammie Nusbaum added 13 points as BNL calmed early jitters with a damaging bombing run and smothered the Golden Arrows in the second half.
The third quarter was a textbook case in wasting little and wanting more. Sherrill, so dangerous in the midst of the Sullivan zone, didn’t miss a shot. Sullivan didn’t make one – in fact its only second-half field goal until the final four minutes was a steal for a breakaway layup. That combination powered BNL to a 30-point lead.
“We found a little bit of a rhythm offensively,” BNL coach Chase Spreen said. “The kids did a really good job of moving the basketball. Our big thing was being patient and getting good shots, regardless of what they were doing defensively, and we really did that. I was happy with our effort and execution.”
After a sluggish start blamed on first-game nerves, BNL took control with two bursts. The first was a 14-0 run in the first quarter, all but the final basket of the blast coming from distance. Nusbaum started the fireworks with two treys, Caroline Sheldon swished one from the deep corner, and Sherrill stroked one from the wing in transition. Nusbaum’s fast-break layup capped the run to a 16-7 advantage.
“We were little stagnant at the start, and Sammie hit a couple to get us started, and Miley kept us going,” Spreen said. “We just want to make sure we get good shots.”
The second explosion was a 17-2, covering the entire third quarter. BNL conducted a master class in ball movement against a zone. Sherrill was 5-for-5 in that span, slicing through that 2-3 spread like a hungry man at a buffet. She scored four times from point-blank range after catching the entry pass in the paint and attacking.
“Get the ball in the middle, look opposite,” Sherrill explained. “Then go around them.”
BNL’s biggest lead came at 50-20 before Sullivan’s Rigley Goodman converted three steals into layups as damage control. Goodman finished 20 points, but the Arrows had few others hit the target.
“Goodman is super quick, she can be a big headache for a lot of teams,” Spreen said. “But we understood where our help needed to come from, we adjusted a couple of things, and we did a nice job of rotating defensively.”
BNL had balance to go with its star power. Audrey Hoffman came off the bench for 7 points and 7 rebounds, while Sheldon and Elahdy Ray both added 6 points. Sherrill was 9 of 12 from the field. That’s why she earned a red-letter E as her game grade. That stands for excellent.
“We talked so much this summer, I was in his office countless times, asking what can I do?” Sherrill said of the discussions with Spreen. “What can I do to make myself and this team better? This feels really good.”
BNL will have little time to rest and relax. The Stars hit the road for a tough test at Evansville North on Saturday afternoon.
SULLIVAN GOLDEN ARROWS (30)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
5 Brie Bedwell, f 0-1 2-4 0-0 5 4 4
32 Camden Golish, f 0-0 0-1 1-2 5 3 1
10 Rigley Goodman, g 2-7 7-20 4-6 4 1 20
3 Anne Dugan, g 0-0 1-4 0-0 3 1 2
11 Cora Murdock, g 0-2 1-5 1-3 3 1 3
25 Kinley Mason 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1 0
15 Carey Shorter 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 1 0
20 Jayma Wenger 0-0 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
35 Abigail Brooks 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
1 Risse Dugan 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 2-13 11-38 6-11 25 12 30
BEDFORD NL STARS (54)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
23 Sammie Nusbaum, f 3-7 5-13 0-1 6 1 13
22 Miley Sherrill, f 1-2 9-12 1-2 4 3 20
21 Jordynn Blann, g 0-3 0-4 2-2 5 0 2
12 Elahdy Ray, g 0-2 3-6 0-0 2 4 6
24 Caroline Sheldon 1-2 2-5 1-2 2 0 6
31 Audrey Hoffman 1-1 3-4 0-2 7 2 7
32 Annie Watson 0-0 0-1 0-0 4 0 0
20 Tinsley Smith 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 0 0
11 Rihanna Tillett 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
44 Madalyn Mason 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 6-17 22-46 4-8 32 11 54
Sullivan 9 7 2 12 – 30
Bedford NL 26 13 17 8 – 54
Turnovers – Sullivan 20, BNL 16
Field goal percentage – Sullivan 11-38 (.289); BNL 22-46 (.478)
Free throw percentage – Sullivan 6-11 (.545); BNL 4-8 (.500)
