By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
NEW ALBANY – New Albany’s Tammy Geron, typical of the coaching fraternity, watched a lot of film on Bedford North Lawrence. Hour after hour. Game after game. She had not seen the Stars shoot very well. Nor had anybody else, live or recorded.
She got a front-row view of BNL at its best on Saturday afternoon.
With Chloe McKnight and Irye Gomez smoothly stroking jumpers from the perimeter, BNL revealed its best-case personality while smacking the Bulldogs 65-36, posting its third straight victory and second road win in the Hoosier Hills Conference.
McKnight and Gomez totaled 18 points each, combining to swish 7 of 8 from distance. Combined with Madison Webb’s post presence, that makes the Stars (6-3, 2-1 in the league) formidable, dangerous and elite. That part of the game had been missing. So this was the break-out performance many had been waiting to witness.
Except for Geron. She could have done without it. And ditto that for future opponents, if this sparkling gem starts a trend.
“We felt like, hopefully, that was going to come,” BNL coach Jeff Allen said “When we shoot the basketball, with the way we’ve been defending, we’re going to be playing at a high level. That’s what has been missing. When we see that, it will make us a dangerous team.”
Gomez hit 6 of 7 shots, four straight during the first-quarter burst to a double-digit lead. She was perfect from the 3-point line. McKnight was 4 of 5 from long range. Last game, they were 3-for-15 combined. Hello again.
“That definitely happened for us today,” Gomez said. “It was really our confidence. We do shooting drills after shooting drills. It’s been coming for a while. It felt great.”
BNL never trailed, was never threatened enough to its third consecutive win. The Bulldogs (3-5 with the end of a two-game winning streak, 0-1 in the HHC) had too many early turnovers (5 in the first 3:30 before getting a shot airborne), too many total (21) to charge back.
“The games we compete with Bedford – and I say compete because we don’t win – in all my time here, we have to keep our turnovers under 15,” Geron said. “If you don’t, you won’t have a chance to win. Not even a chance, it won’t be close.”
And this was not as McKnight drained three treys for a 38-18 halftime lead and Webb made an impact in the second half with three close-range buckets.
Naria Reed, a 6-2 transfer from Louisville, was a weapon for New Albany. She was coming off an 18-point, 16-board effort against North Harrison, and she backed that up with 16 points against the Stars. Layne Burke added 12 rebounds.
“She’s a nice addition,” Geron said of her new post star. “She’s just getting comfortable with us and what we’re asking her to do. She’s getting better and better, we’re able to utilize her more. Now we need to get our guard play where it needs to be. It was pretty poor today.”
BNL had a hand in that. The tenacious triumvirate of Gracie Crulo-Rood, freshman Karsyn Norman and Jenna Louden caused a lot of havoc in the backcourt.
“That’s going to be a game plan for us a lot,” Allen said. “Those three guards can put some pressure on people. They’re getting better and better each game. If we can disrupt their execution, that’s what we’re going to do every time.
“We’re taking steps that direction. I really like our defense. They have a sense of urgency when they’re defending.”
McKnight added 8 rebounds and Norman finished with 8 points.
“Every day, we’re getting better,” Gomez said. “We’re moving on, ready for the next one.”
The next one is the third leg of the three-game conference road swing, ending at Seymour on Thursday.
BEDFORD NL STARS (65)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
22 Irye Gomez, f 3-3 6-7 3-4 2 3 18
32 Madison Webb, c 0-1 3-10 4-5 2 1 10
11 Chloe McKnight, g 4-5 6-12 2-2 8 2 18
24 Gracie Crulo-Rood, g 1-2 2-3 0-1 4 2 5
21 Karsyn Norman, g 0-1 4-9 0-0 2 1 8
23 Jenna Louden 0-0 2-4 0-0 2 0 4
50 Peyton Sweet 0-0 1-2 0-0 3 1 2
40 Haley Deckard 0-0 0-1 0-0 1 1 0
20 Carlee Kern 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
444 Grace Kinser 0-2 0-3 0-0 1 1 0
Totals 8-14 24-51 9-12 27 12 65
NEW ALBANY BULLDOGS (36)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
34 Layne Burke, f 0-3 1-6 2-3 12 1 5
44 Naria Reed, c 0-0 8-13 0-1 7 3 16
3 Maleea Roland, g 0-2 0-5 1-2 3 1 1
22 Mya Jackson, g 0-0 4-9 0-0 4 0 8
10 Taylor Treat, g 1-1 2-5 0-0 2 2 5
12 Delani Ewing 0-0 0-0 0-2 1 0 0
32 Alaina Walker 0-0 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
20 Anasha Crowdus 0-0 0-1 0-2 1 0 0
23 Journey Howard 0-0 1-2 0-0 1 0 2
21 Shalandria White 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 1-6 16-42 3-10 32 8 36
Bedford NL 20 18 14 13 – 65
New Albany 8 10 12 6 – 36
Turnovers – BNL 8, New Albany 21
Field goal percentage – BNL 24-51 (.471); New Albany 16-42 (.381)
Free throw percentage – BNL 9-12 (.750); New Albany 3-10 (.300)
