By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
SEYMOUR – The signs of growth in children are obvious. They rip through clothes like the Hulk, eat everything that can’t escape, shoot upward like weeds in a bean field. Seems to happen overnight, when they transform from sweet adolescence to sour teens.
The growth of basketball teams is less tangible. They can stumble through mediocre performances, absorb little from practice sessions, fall backward on wobbly legs. Seems to take forever, the expected progress from sour struggles to sweet success.
Bedford North Lawrence, which was already ahead of the curve, showed more signs of meeting coach Jeff Allen’s high standards. If that’s the case, if the impressive parts of Thursday night’s road victory over Seymour become the norm, the Stars are on another stratospheric trajectory.
With Chloe Spreen showing her skills, with contributions across the board, the No.7 Stars blasted to a 64-42 win over the Owls, taking another solid step in defense of their Hoosier Hills Conference title. Spreen scored 25 points, one of three in double figures, as BNL (9-1 overall) conquered Seymour for the 10th straight time in the series.
Spreen, a leading contender for Miss Basketball, was her typical self. What was atypical was the balance and production from others. Madisyn Bailey and freshman Miley Sherrill had 11 points each, and Trinidy Bailey sparked a second-quarter breakout. If she ever lets out a rebel yell, that would be an apocalyptic event, but she definitely gave the Stars more with 7 points.
That’s what Allen has been waiting for. It came at Seymour’s expense.
“I like the way we’re playing,” he said. “We’ve made progress. We came through that growing period, we’ve come out of it. We’ve hit our stride and we’re starting to play some good basketball. We shared the ball really well.“
What was not to like? BNL started fast, which had been demanded. The Stars had threats all over, which had been promised. They even won the rebounding stats (28-16), which will still be preached.
Spreen had BNL’s first three baskets, then the younger Bailey swished a corner trey off a Spreen pass. That flash cutting through cavernous Scott Gymnasium was the light bulb going off in Trinity’s head. She followed that with a baseline cut (off a pass from her sister) for another bucket, then blasted down the lane for a third score and a 24-12 BNL lead midway through the second quarter. She had more points in that span than her last four games.
“I actually pulled her aside and said ‘That’s what I want from you,’” Allen said. “Some offensive confidence where she’s looking to contribute. That just makes us that much more dangerous. It takes a lot of pressure off Madisyn and Chloe. You can’t leave her alone now.”
“The coaches have been telling me we need some more out of me,” Trinidy said. “I just decided to step up. That first one was really important. Usually doesn’t happen, but it was a lot better seeing it go in, gave me some confidence.”
BNL got to halftime with a 31-17 advantage. Madisyn Bailey and Spreen splashed treys, Sherrill slashed to a layup off another perfect Spreen pass, and Tori Nikirk buried a bomb for a 46-25 lead at the end of the third frame. BNL’s biggest advantage came at 58-32 in the fourth.
In addition to her offense, Spreen added 7 rebounds. The Stars hit 9 treys (from six different players) and had only two turnovers during the first three quarters. Seymour coach Jason Longmeier traced the BNL sharpness to an obvious origin.
“At the end of the day, Chloe creates a lot of problems,” he said. “She’s a match-up problem for us.
“It’s hard to keep Chloe from getting where she wants to go. Bailey gets to that right hand, and she’s strong, and she creates a lot of problems. When you have to put a lot of emphasis on where Spreen is, it opens up a lot for those other kids. And they made their shots.”
“Chloe is just a special talent,” Allen said. “She makes everyone around her better, just plays hard all the time.”
Journee Brown was a highlight for the Owls with 17 points. But take her out of the mix, and Seymour hit only 9 of 26 shots. Sophie Skidmore had 9 points and Kenzie Gagner came off the bench firing to add 8. Seymour suffered its third consecutive loss (Class 2A No.6 Brownstown and 4A No.8 Jennings County, quite a murderous stretch).
“A lot of ups and downs,” Longmeier said. “We had good stretches. We’re not competing with those guys if we can’t make shots, especially open shots.” The Owls missed their first 11 from long range and finished 2 of 16 from deep.
BNL (now 3-0 in the HHC) will return to action on Saturday, hosting Brownsburg.
BEDFORD NL STARS (64)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
2 Chloe Spreen, f 2-6 8-17 7-8 7 1 25
22 Miley Sherrill, f 2-2 3-5 3-4 5 2 11
24 Madisyn Bailey, g 2-4 4-9 1-2 3 1 11
32 Trinidy Bailey, g 1-2 3-5 0-0 5 1 7
12 Tori Nikirk, g 1-2 1-2 0-0 0 0 3
20 Bella Jackson 1-1 1-1 0-0 2 2 3
23 Katie Godlevske 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 1 0
50 Harryson Hayes 0-0 1-1 0-0 3 0 2
11 Haleigh Canada 0-0 1-1 0-0 1 0 2
Totals 9-19 22-43 11-14 28 8 64
SEYMOUR OWLS (42)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
25 Kendall Sterling, f 0-2 1-4 2-2 5 2 4
22 Journee Brown, f 0-0 7-10 3-3 3 0 17
24 Claire Marshall, f 0-0 1-1 0-0 1 0 0
3 Emmy Munson, g 0-2 1-4 0-0 1 3 2
32 Sophie Skidmore, g 0-2 3-6 3-3 2 3 9
10 Jaidyn Nichols 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 1 0
11 Kenzie Gagner 2-9 3-11 0-0 1 1 8
Totals 2-16 16-36 8-8 16 10 42
Bedford NL 16 15 15 18 – 64
Seymour 8 9 8 17 – 42
Turnovers – BNL 6, Seymour 11
Field goal percentage – BNL 22-43 (.512); Seymour 16-36 (.444)
Free throw percentage – BNL 11-14 (.786); Seymour 8-8 (1.000)
