By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
MITCHELL – Speed, dangerous when uncontrolled, is an amazing phenomenon. The lightning strike, the hungry hawk swooping on its prey, the cheetah chasing a meal on the African savanna, the fighter jet breaking the sound barrier, the race car hurtling toward the checkered flag.
Former Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis was obsessed with it. “Speed kills,” he said. “You can’t teach speed. Everything else in the game can be taught, but speed is a gift from God.” That definitely applies to basketball.
Bedford North Lawrence has been abundantly blessed with it. Speed can’t be emulated, can’t prepare for it if you don’t have it. All those diabolical plans by Wile E. Coyote, he never factored Roadrunner’s quickness in the Acme equations.
BNL’s superpower was obvious on Saturday night, as the second-ranked Stars zoomed to a mercy-rule, runaway victory over Mitchell in the renewal of the county rivalry. After a clean start, the Bluejackets got left behind like a bicyclist in a motorcycle race.
Karsyn Norman paced a balanced scoring attack with 17 points as BNL roared to a 78-20 victory. Chloe Spreen added 15 points, and two other Stars reached double figures while Mitchell (1-2) suffered its 13th straight loss in the series. BNL sucked all the oxygen out of the gymnasium with a devastating 20-3 run to close a sensational second quarter, and the Bluejackets were guilty of 30 turnovers.
The Stars (3-0) were guilty of speeding, going double the posted limit. Can’t drive 55? They could have threatened 100 if not for the shortened game time. BNL triggered the running clock (at a 35-point margin) two minutes into the second half. It was a quick night, in many ways.
“They have quickness that’s unbelievable,” Mitchell coach Tim Haworth said. “They just wear you down. All of a sudden, you have a five-minute spurt. We don’t have the kids to respond to that.” Haworth can take solace in that very few do.
Give Mitchell credit for early success. With senior guard Mylea Slone, who has been battling a groin strain, in the lineup, the Jackets were hanging in at 18-8 after eight minutes. When Slone aggravated the injury and departed, with discretion the better part of valor, BNL exploded.
Zoom! Mallory Pride finished off five transition layups. Flash! Norman zipped free for three jumpers to ignite the second-quarter eruption. When the dust settled, BNL owned a 45-15 halftime lead. That escalated quickly.
“I thought Mitchell played well early,” BNL coach Jeff Allen said. “I was impressed, but our speed wore them down. That’s what we do to people, keep the pressure up and keep grinding. It’s tough to continue to play at that level.”
BNL was relentless. Mitchell managed only one basket in the second half. Meanwhile, the Stars showcased their talent and unselfishness, with light-switch-quick ball movement. The most beautiful of those moments was a Norman no-look touch pass off an offensive rebound to Spreen for a wide-open layup and 55-15 lead.
“You have to like that,” Allen said. “In a ‘what about me?’ society right now, the kids are focused on the team. Who has the advantage? Get them the ball. That’s what makes you good, when you have talented kids and they have that philosophy. We really passed the ball well. We looked for the open person and got them the ball. You have to be happy with that.”
Pride finished with 14 points and 7 rebounds, Madisyn Bailey had a quiet 13. BNL had no slippage when the reserves were tasked with the finishing details, as the Stars hit 6 of 7 shots in the final period.
“They’re very deserving for everything they get, because they work at it,” Haworth said. “We played that first quarter and a half about as well as we can. I was proud of our kids. But they had some moves, some nice passes. As a spectator . . . yeah. They put in the work 365, and it shows. That’s the reason where they are right now.
“They’re so talented, and so quick. We did what we could. They’re just an outstanding team. Very impressive, unbelievable what they have going on.”
Slone paced Mitchell with 8 points. The Bluejackets had only five points in the second half.
Mitchell will visit Loogootee on Tuesday, the same night BNL journeys to Bloomington South
BEDFORD NL STARS (78)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
2 Chloe Spreen, f 0-3 7-12 1-1 2 3 15
22 Mallory Pride, f 0-0 7-9 0-0 7 1 14
24 Madisyn Bailey, g 2-5 5-9 1-2 3 3 13
20 Emma Brown, g 2-3 2-3 0-0 1 1 6
21 Karsyn Norman, g 2-8 7-15 1-2 7 0 17
3 Katie Baumgart 0-0 0-1 2-2 1 0 2
50 Emma Crane 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
40 Bella Jackson 1-1 1-3 0-0 1 0 3
12 Tori Nikirk 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 1 0
23 Katie Godlevske 1-2 1-2 0-0 0 1 3
32 Trinidy Bailey 0-0 1-1 0-0 0 0 2
44 Ellie Tillett 0-0 1-1 1-2 1 0 3
11 Haleigh Canada 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Totals 8-23 32-57 6-9 25 11 78
MITCHELL BLUEJACKETS (20)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
22 Brooklyn Peterson, f 0-2 0-4 2-2 3 0 2
33 Jillian Bond, f 0-0 2-5 1-1 3 2 5
10 Zoey Smith 0-0 0-0 0-0 2 4 0
21 Malaya Tanglao, g 0-0 1-3 1-2 0 0 3
13 Mylea Slone, g 2-3 3-5 0-0 0 0 8
12 Taylor Lee 0-0 0-2 2-2 1 2 2
40 Briley Dicks 0-0 0-2 0-0 1 0 0
3 Grace Thompson 0-0 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
0 Izzy Duncan 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
4 Kaytyiah Cox 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 2-5 6-22 6-7 15 8 20
Bedford NL 18 27 19 14 – 78
Mitchell 8 7 2 3 – 20
Turnovers – BNL 6, Mitchell 30
Field goal percentage – BNL 32-57 (.561); Mitchell 6-22 (.273)
Free throw percentage – BNL 6-9 (.667); Mitchell 6-7 (.857)
