By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – For all the wonderful talents and gifts Bedford North Lawrence has been blessed with, the Stars have yet to unwrap a victory in the tournament with Santa’s name on it. What have they done to deserve two lumps of coal? Somebody speak to Ralphie so he can put in a good word with the Big Man, the Head Honcho.
BNL will makes its third straight appearance in the prestigious Sneakers for Santa Shootout at Brownsburg, a loaded six-game event featuring some of the best teams and individual talent in the state, on Saturday. The No.2 Stars will battle No.10 Lawrence North in the nightcap, a marquee matchup and rematch of last year’s semistate championship.
The Stars won that clash en route to the program’s fifth state title. Many familiar faces are back for this encounter as BNL (6-0) faces its most difficult challenge thus far. And if trends mean anything, the Stars will need to break a couple. The Stars have been undefeated the last two years before suffering their first loss in this event, and neither team has won back-to-back games in the previous five meetings between these elites.
What makes the Wildcats (3-1) so formidable? Depth and balance. They have four starters averaging 9-plus points, and they’ve already been tested against No.6 Noblesville and No.8 Zionsville. The weapons include senior guard Kamara Mills (11.0), 6-1 junior Jamaya Thomas (10.3), junior point guard Kya Hurt (9.7 points, 5.3 assists) and sophomore Naja Winston (9.0 points, 5.0 rebounds).
“They’re very athletic and deep,” BNL coach Jeff Allen said. “They have some kids who can really score, and they have some size. It’s a lot for anyone to deal with defensively. They all do it different ways – a post player, a shooter, a slasher and a penetrator. They’re all good. The combination is really tough to defend. We’ll have to be really good in the halfcourt and help each other, make it as difficult as we can.“
Lawrence North lost its opener (59-52 at Zionsville) before ripping off three straight impressive wins over Noblesville (56-53), North Central (69-33) and Avon (69-58).
“We have a talented team with depth,” LN coach second-year coach Stephen Thomas said. “The ladies have committed to doing their job and taking care of their sisters. We have talented ladies individually, but collectively they are a force. They believe and trust in each other.”
BNL won the semistate clash at Southport 47-40, with Chloe Spreen doing a lot of damage with 26 points (including 19 in the second half). Monica Williams paced the Wildcats with 13 points, but LN converted only 13 of 44 shots and had twice as many turnovers (16-8) as the Stars. That combination was fatal.
Spreen, the Miss Basketball frontrunner, leads BNL in scoring (22.8) and rebounding (6.8). She will command most of the attention from the Wildcats.
“In my opinion, Spreen’s greatest attribute is her ability to make her teammates better,” Thomas said. “She does a great job of putting her teammates in positions to excel. A lot of coaches, I believe, would agree: you contain, you try to limit and you try to slow her down. She’s the Miss Basketball frontrunner for a reason.”
BNL has other options. Madisyn Bailey is averaging 10.5 points, 5.3 assists and 4.7 steals while drawing the assignment as the first-choice defender. Freshman forward Miley Sherrill is contributing 9.8 points. Others in the lineup and rotation have taken turns with recent scoring bursts.
“I like the fact we have some kids who haven’t played a lot of minutes that have been scoring,” Allen said. “We’re getting really solid play out of that group, they’re starting to understand what they need to do out there. That’s a plus because it will take stress off the others.”
Stress has been a key talking point this week. Allen has pointed to that factor as a reason for another recent trend with the Stars – slow starts. BNL has trailed after the first quarter in the last three games.
“Part of the problem is we expect to be at a level, development wise, that’s unrealistic for this bunch,” Allen said. “It might be stressing us out, because people have come out and competed with us. Stress can do that to kids. So we need to play a little more relaxed, understand we have some growing to do during the season. We’ll have ups and downs.
“The tension and stress rose during the week because we continued to get everyone’s best. That’s my job, to make that go away.”
“The game will come down to those ‘winning little’ things,” Thomas said. “This is a postseason type of game and atmosphere. Both talented teams, both will be prepared.”
BNL leads the series 3-2, with two overtime wins. This is the first regular-season meeting since the Stars suffered a 59-49 loss at Lawrence North during the 2013-14 campaign.
In the first five games of the long day, Zionsville (5-2) will face Decatur Central (5-0), Brownsburg (4-3) will meet 3A No.2 Indian Creek (4-2), No.9 South Bend Washington (6-1) will clash with No.13 Jennings County (6-1), Noblesville (4-2) will battle Bolingbrook (Ill.) and No.1 Hamilton Southeastern (6-0) will face No.5 Columbia City (5-0).
BNL vs. LAWRENCE NORTH
When: Saturday, 8:15 p.m. (at Brownsburg)
Records: BNL 6-0, ranked No.2 in Class 4A; Lawrence North 3-1, ranked No.10 in Class 4A
Sagarin ratings: BNL 89.90; Lawrence North 96.10
Last meeting: Last year in the Class 4A semistate final at Southport, Chloe Spreen scored 26 points as the Stars won the title with a 47-40 triumph. Monica Williams had 13 points for the Wildcats.
Previous game story: Banner up! Spreen shines as Stars conquer LN
Game notes: BNL is one of 10 undefeated teams remaining in the state in Class 4A. The Stars are competing in the Sneakers for Santa Shootout at Brownsburg for the third straight season and have gone 0-2 in their previous appearances, losing to Fremd (Ill.) in 2021 and Zionsville last season.
Starting lineups
Bedford NL Stars
F – Chloe Spreen 5-10 Sr.
F – Miley Sherrill 5-9 Fr.
G – Madisyn Bailey 5-9 Sr.
G – Trinidy Bailey 5-7 So.
G – Tori Nikirk 5-6 Jr.
Lawrence North Wildcats
F – Naja Winston 5-11 So.
F – Jamaya Thomas 6-1 Jr.
G – Kamara Mills 5-6 Sr.
G- Kya Hurt 5-9 Jr.
G – Ellysa Morris 5-8 Sr.
