By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – For a brief instant, fear swept across Miley Sherrill’s face. The sheer weight of the moment, the tension and drama of the end-game situation, smacked her right between the eyes. She grasped her head with both hands, realizing what she was about to attempt.
Then she took a deep breath, summoned courage, and delivered. Clutch, cool. Two free throws to win, victory in her hands in the glare of the spotlight, and they were perfect. Swish, swish, not even a graze of the rim. How’s that for a freshman.
Sherrill’s two fearless foul shots with 1.8 seconds left were the final blows as Class 4A No.7 Bedford North Lawrence fought off a valiant challenge from 2A No.1 North Knox for a pressure-packed 51-50 win on Monday night. Chloe Spreen scored 23 points as the Stars (7-1) bounced back from their first loss with their best win of the season. Class designation is meaningless. The Warriors (8-1) were worthy of greater respect, forcing the defending 4A state champions to the brink.
BNL was teetering after North Knox’s Alex McKinley cut through the lane for a backdoor pass and layup for a 50-49 lead with 5.7 seconds left. The Stars had to go the length of the floor, and North Knox was able to take advantage of the new rule that demands five team fouls in a quarter before free throws are awarded. The Warriors had only two at this point.
They gave the first foul at 4.1, and BNL called timeout. They gave the next at 3.0, and BNL coach Jeff Allen used two more timeouts to set up the final play from the right sideline. It started with Spreen cutting from the baseline to the top of the key, and two defenders went with her. And why not? Everybody in BNL Fieldhouse – indeed, most of the state – would have guessed the ball was going to the Miss Basketball frontrunner.
But BNL’s Trinidy Bailey, triggering the ball in, saw the crowd around Spreen and went with Option B, which was Sherrill, isolated under the rim. She got the pass and drew contact on her shot from point-blank range. After composing herself, after one dribble and a knee bend, she fired. The net barely moved. Second verse, same as the first. When North Knox’s desperation heave from near midcourt clanged harmlessly off the backboard, Sherrill was swarmed by teammates in a celebration of joy and relief.
“I was very nervous,” Sherrill said afterward, when a smile was a lot easier. “As soon as I got fouled, I was like ‘I just need one and we go to overtime.’ I’m really glad I got both. A lot less stress. It felt really good. I knew I would be put in that position at least once, and we came out on top.”
Putting those free throws in perspective, she was only 5 of 8 from the line during the first seven games.
“Maybe a little growth there,” Allen said. “That’s a tough way to grow up. She stepped up there and was pretty cool under the pressure. She stepped up there calm, cool and collected, hit ‘em both.”
That storybook ending capped a thrilling battle. North Knox was BNL’s equal, twice rallying from six-point deficits in the second half, executing almost flawlessly during the final five minutes to erase the second one and take charge with a go-ahead bucket against all-out defensive pressure.
“We finished strong,” North Knox coach Steve Meurer said. “We didn’t hang our heads. They were putting so much pressure on us. They were right in our grill. That’s one thing I like about this team. We’re young in a lot of areas, but they’re thick skinned. They’re used to winning. I don’t think they were intimidated.“
The Warriors showed their grit immediately. Meurer was concerned about getting buried during the first three minutes, instead his club broke to an 8-2 lead and set the tone for the rest of the night. The Stars answered with treys from Sherrill and Spreen, plus a Madisyn Bailey bucket from the paint, as BNL drew even at 12-12. North Knox took a 22-21 halftime lead on Lexi Primus’ soft 10-footer and Baylee McLure’s rebound bucket.
Spreen showed why she’s a candidate to win the coveted award as the state’s best in the third quarter. She snagged back-to-back offensive rebounds for scores, knifed through traffic for a left-handed runner in the lane and scored in transition off a Tori Nikirk pass for a 3-point play and 36-30 lead. However, the Warriors answered with McKinley’s lane cut, Brooklyn Sturgeon’s 12-footer from the right wing and Primus’ prime-time drive for a 36-36 deadlock heading to the final frame.
BNL put together a second surge as Madisyn Bailey went coast-to-coast with a steal, Trinidy Bailey powered through the lane for a bucket, and Sherrill converted a layup for a 44-38 lead. And that didn’t last long either. Brynna Collins scored from the paint, McKinley and Primus hit treys, and North Knox was in front 46-44 with 2:35 left.
“They just keep coming,” Allen said. “There was no quit in them. They shot the ball really well. Every time we got some separation, they came roaring back.”
The last 90 seconds were textbook worthy in terms of execution. Nikirk swished a huge trey, but Collins came back with a driving bucket. Spreen blasted through the lane for a 49-48 lead with 42 seconds left, but the Warriors retaliated with the McGinley layup. Meaker opponents would have wilted. Then BNL was perfect in strategy and performance in the final 5.7 seconds.
“It was good for both teams,” Allen said. “You had to make crunch-time plays, and both teams really did. Hopefully that’s a good sign for us. For them to execute in that situation will pay dividends down the road.“
Spreen added a game-high 8 rebounds to her usual point total. Madisyn Bailey finished with 12 points, and Sherrill added 11. BNL was guilty of only 6 turnovers against one of the state leaders in defense (allowing only 27.4 points per game).
“Chloe used her athleticism really well, got to balls only she can get to,” Allen said. “She made some really good plays on the offensive end.”
Primus paced the Warriors with 14 points, McKinley totaled 11 and Sturgeon added 10.
“It’s really a win for us,” Meurer said. “It really helps us. That’s why we put this on our schedule. Everybody was ‘Oh my gosh, you’re playing BNL at BNL?’ If you get beat, you get beat and learn from it. They expose your weaknesses.”
In the end, the Warriors were one play away. “We gambled at the end,” Meurer said. “We gambled wrong.”
BNL, coming off Saturday’s devastating loss to Lawerence North and facing North Knox without practice or preparation, avoided consecutive losses for the first time since the 2019-20 season.
“Hopefully this gets us rolling,” Allen said. “This was huge. We would have been doing damage repair if we had dropped two in a row. For our psyche and team health, it was a critical win. A great win over a really good team.”
“It was huge for us to come back and win,” Sherrill said. “We took such a hard loss. Even though that was a 2A school, we definitely needed that.”
BNL will return to Hoosier Hills Conference action on Saturday afternoon, visiting New Albany.
NORTH KNOX WARRIORS (50)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
12 Alex McKinley, g 1-1 5-10 0-0 3 3 11
22 Brynna Collins, f 0-4 2-7 2-2 3 2 6
50 Briley Utt, f 1-1 1-1 0-0 1 5 3
11 Lexi Primus, g 1-1 5-7 3-3 4 2 14
24 Brooklyn Sturgeon, g 2-3 4-7 0-0 3 3 10
2 Madison McCory 0-1 1-3 0-0 1 0 2
20 Cora Armes 0-0 0-1 0-0 2 0 0
15 Baylee McLure 0-0 1-1 0-0 3 0 2
41 Jade Richter 0-0 1-1 0-0 2 0 2
Totals 5-11 20-38 5-5 22 15 50
BEDFORD NL STARS (51)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
2 Chloe Spreen, f 2-4 8-17 5-8 8 2 23
22 Miley Sherrill, f 1-1 4-5 2-2 5 2 11
24 Madisyn Bailey, g 1-3 4-10 3-4 2 2 12
32 Trinidy Bailey, g 0-1 1-4 0-0 1 0 2
12 Tori Nikirk, g 1-3 1-3 0-0 1 2 3
20 Bella Jackson 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
23 Katie Godlevske 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 5-13 18-41 10-14 18 8 51
North Knox 12 10 14 14 – 50
Bedford NL 12 9 15 15 – 51
Turnovers – North Knox 14, BNL 6
Field goal percentage – North Knox 20-38 (.526); BNL 18-41 (.439)
Free throw percentage – North Knox 5-5 (1.000); BNL 10-14 (.714)
