By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – Glitches and hitches, flaws and problems are part of the fabric of a debut. Bedford North Lawrence was a case study in what could go wrong, did go wrong.
First the offense malfunctioned, then the new scoreboard went a little haywire, and finally a fourth-quarter lead was wasted. All those mishaps combined for an opening-night setback. The Stars have a lot of kinks to unravel.
Mooresville took advantage of all the issues, rallying in the final frame to conquer BNL 45-39 on Friday night. Senior forward Ava Shafer scored 17 points, making three game-changing plays during a late 12-2 burst, as the Pioneers (2-0) ended BNL’s four-game winning streak in the series and escaped from BNL Fieldhouse with a victory for the first time since 2010.
After missing their first 11 shots during a frantic start, after trailing for the first 23-plus minutes, the Stars scrambled their way to a five-point lead with 5:30 left. That’s when Shafer took over, sparking the turnaround as the Pioneers spoiled Greg Burton’s debut as BNL’s head coach.
There will be better nights. Because some parts of this couldn’t get much worse. The Stars shot blanks, converting only 2 of 22 from distance. They gave up a crucial 3-point play on an inbound set under the basket, a defensive cardinal sin, as Mooresville took a lead it would not relinquish in the final three minutes.
“They made plays, we didn’t,” Burton summarized.
Despite all the struggles, BNL surged to a 30-25 advantage early in the fourth quarter. That’s when Mooresville made its move. Freshman guard Makenzie Holtzclaw, the team scoring leader in the Mooresville opener earlier this week, made her first shot, a layup off a Shafer rebound and outlet. Shafer followed with a breakaway, and Holtzclaw buried a trey. Then the next two baskets were the biggest, as Kendal Price slithered free for a layup-and-one with 2:52 left, and Shafer followed with a 12-footer in transition.
BNL still had life, even had a three in the air for a tie in the final minute, but the earlier burst had done the damage.
“They were just mental mistakes,” Burton said. “We had a wide-open three, a long miss, and nobody got back. Then we lost who were guarding in transition. And five points in a game like this is huge. It snowballs on you.
“I would like to see us execute better down the stretch. We got some shots, not the shots we were hunting. We just have to execute better, be smarter.”
For BNL to even be in that position, after its nightmare start, was remarkable. The Stars were only down 6-0 after their 0-for-11 opening, with Trinidy Bailey finally ending the drought with a steal and layup. Katie Godlevske scored in transition and popped a trey, but the Pioneers closed the half with a 7-1 run to a 19-10 advantage.
BNL ramped up its defensive pressure in the third quarter and battled back. Tori Nikirk drove to a three-point play, Paige Burton scored off a steal, and Miley Sherrill forced a 25-25 deadlock with a layup off a Jordynn Blann takeaway. Sherrill ended the third with two free throws for BNL’s first lead of the year, and she made three more from the line to start the fourth. That set the stage for the Mooresville answer.
“That was a hard-fought win,” veteran Mooresville coach Mark Hurt said. “We told the girls Bedford would not go away. They came after us in the second half, we turned the ball over too much, didn’t make good decisions with the basketball, weren’t very patient.
“They outscrapped us. Our girls fought back and matched their intensity the last three minutes. We made some plays, hit some shots, made our free throws. That put us over the top. We’ll take it. Hopefully we will learn from this.“
Holtzclaw finished with 10 points (8 in the final quarter), and center Randee Garringer grabbed 16 rebounds as Mooresville won that stat (as expected, with BNL’s vertical challenges) by a 39-28 count. Mooresville’s main issue was 25 turnovers.
Godlevske paced BNL with 14 points while Sherrill totaled 12. BNL finished 10 of 48 (a paltry 20.8 percent) from the floor.
“We want to score with our defense, but we got in foul trouble early, so we couldn’t go after them,” Burton said. “That was a double whammy. We were able to in the second half, and it showed. Our plan was to do that earlier, but with foul trouble you have to pull the reins back a little. And it’s tough.
“Katie was good. It’s nice when a senior leader busts their tail and does what you ask them to do. She did that.”
BNL will look to rebound on Tuesday when it hosts Bloomington North.
MOORESVILLE PIONEERS (45)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
23 Addi Ward, f 0-0 1-5 1-2 5 5 3
32 Ava Shafer, f 2-3 6-9 3-4 8 4 17
44 Randee Garringer, c 0-0 1-6 0-2 16 2 4
12 Addi VanWanzeele, g 0-0 0-2 2-4 2 3 2
20 Makenzie Holtzclaw, g 2-10 3-13 2-2 2 3 10
11 Kendal Price 1-1 2-3 5-6 0 2 9
10 Jessie Shue 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Totals 5-16 14-38 12-17 39 20 45
BEDFORD NL STARS (39)
3s FGs FT R F Pts
22 Miley Sherrill, f 0-5 2-14 8-12 5 4 12
32 Trinidy Bailey, f 0-4 2-11 0-0 7 3 4
12 Tori Nikirk, g 0-1 1-2 1-1 1 5 3
23 Katie Godlevske, g 2-7 4-11 4-4 4 0 14
20 Paige Burton, g 0-1 1-3 3-5 1 4 5
30 Makaya Jackson 0-0 0-1 1-4 3 2 1
21 Jordynn Blann 0-4 0-5 0-0 2 2 0
11 Trinity Schmeichel 0-0 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 2-22 10-48 17-26 28 20 39
Mooresville 11 8 6 20 – 45
Bedford NL 2 8 17 12 – 39
Turnovers – Mooresville 25, BNL 14
Field goal percentage – Mooresville 14-38 (.368); BNL 10-48 (.208)
Free throw percentage – Mooresville 12-17 (.706); BNL 17-26 (.654)
