By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
GALENA – Without dazzle, without sparkle, without the customary energy and enthusiasm for the kill, No.2 Bedford North Lawrence looked a little travel weary. After three lengthy road trips in five days, it’s understandable. Call it bus lag.
Even on fumes, or tired of inhaling Star Cruiser fumes, the Stars made it to the finish line, capping their Hoosier Hills Conference run with a 57-37 triumph over Floyd Central on Saturday afternoon. Now the Stars have to hope for a Columbus East stumble in its HHC finale to get a share of the league title.
That’s out of their control. What was in their control was an 18-0 burst in the second quarter, which erased the memories of their last trip to Floyd. This one featured a similar start, but Chloe Spreen scored 17 points and Irye Gomez matched that with 17 as BNL (16-2, 6-1 in the HHC) awoke from some doldrums.
BNL staggered early, missing its first five shots and ending four other possessions with turnovers, trailing 7-0 before Spreen scored on an offensive rebound at the 4:12 mark. Thoughts of the 36-26 meltdown two years ago on the same court were hard to ignore. And when reserve Carlee Kern hit the floor hard and suffered two chipped teeth, that omen was hard to disregard.
Those vanished. Tied 14-14 with a minute gone in the second quarter, the Stars came to life. Haley Deckard scored from the baseline (off Chloe Spreen’s rebound of a missed free throw), and BNL followed with three consecutive 3-pointers to signal the end of the suspense.
After Chloe McKnight and Gomez did their long-distance damage, Makena Moore got loose for a transition layup and Spreen followed with an interior bucket. The Stars had 32-14 command and would not be threatened.
“We were getting a little nervous until that point,” BNL coach Jeff Allen said. “Then the kids went ‘Woo’ and relaxed. We didn’t shoot well early and got a little tight.”
BNL built its biggest lead at 45-21 on two more Gomez bombs. Floyd Central (5-12, 0-6) did not collapse as Kendall Brown totaled 19 points, but the BNL burst in the first half had done enough.
“We played really well for a quarter, then their depth wore on us,” FC coach Randy Gianfagna said. “They amped it up. The biggest thing was we had to take care of the defensive backboard. They had 13 points from offensive rebounds in that quarter. Turnovers (FC had 11 in the first half) and the offensive rebounds, and your effort isn’t as good when the ball doesn’t go in the basket.”
Gomez had five treys and Spreen was 7 of 11 from the floor with 9 rebounds. But the rest of the Stars were a combined 9 of 28.
“When you don’t make shots it takes away from that energy,” Allen said. “We didn’t have a great shooting day. I thought Floyd played well. Everybody plays well against us. That’s to be expected. But we didn’t shoot well. Playing conference opponents can be tough.
“When we got what we felt was separation, we tried some different lineups. You have to do that, in case you get in that situation. So it was a great day to do that.”
Columbus East clinched a share of the HHC with a 79-60 win at New Albany on Saturday. The Olympians will face Jennings County in their league finale on Thursday.
BNL will continue its five-game road swing on Monday, making the journey to Vincennes Lincoln.
BEDFORD NL STARS (57)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
22 Irye Gomez, f 5-9 5-9 2-2 4 2 17
11 Chloe McKnight, f 2-7 2-9 0-0 4 2 6
2 Chloe Spreen, f 0-1 7-11 3-4 9 3 17
21 Karsyn Norman, g 1-3 2-5 1-2 0 2 6
23 Jenna Louden, g 0-4 1-5 0-2 2 3 2
12 Makena Moore 0-2 1-4 0-0 5 0 2
24 Carlee Kern 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
40 Haley Deckard 0-0 1-2 0-0 0 0 2
20 Emma Brown 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1 0
32 Madisyn Bailey 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 1 3
44 Grace Kinser 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
31 Ella Turner 0-0 1-1 0-2 3 0 0
Totals 9-27 21-48 6-12 30 14 57
FLOYD CENTRAL HIGHLANDERS (37)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
23 Grace Suer, f 1-1 2-4 2-6 5 3 7
15 Kendall Brown, f 3-4 8-11 0-1 3 1 19
14 Mandy Hess, g 0-2 0-2 0-0 3 2 0
11 Keegan Kaiser, g 0-2 2-9 5-5 3 3 9
10 Sophie Gasaway, g 0-0 0-1 0-1 2 1 0
51 Callie Celishowski 0-0 1-2 0-0 3 0 2
32 Laney Siewert 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
34 Kennedy Emerson 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
5 Madi Wood 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
30 Peyton Kochert 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 4-8 13-29 7-13 20 10 37
Bedford NL 12 22 14 9 – 57
Floyd Central 11 6 10 10 – 37
Turnovers – BNL 11, Floyd Central 18
Field goal percentage – BNL 21-48 (.438); Floyd Central 13-29 (.448)
Free throw percentage – BNL 6-12 (.500); Floyd Central 7-13 (.538)
