By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
MITCHELL – Controlled burns involve setting planned fires to maintain the health of the forest. Bedford North Lawrence lit the flames, then made it sure the blaze was contained.
After scoring the first 18 points in the renewal of the county rivalry, the Stars basked in the glowing embers the rest of the way while adding to their neighborhood dominance. With the reserves doing most of the work after the sizzling start, BNL cruised to the expected runaway victory over Mitchell on Saturday night.
BNL bounced back from a heartbreaking home loss to Scottsburg just 24 hours earlier with a 61-16 triumph over the Bluejackets. Miley Sherrill scored 12 points and Trinity Schmeichel added a career-high 10 off the bench as the Stars (2-2) recorded their 15th straight win in the series.
Drama was not part of the equation. The Stars made that point rather emphatically with the 18-0 getaway. They raced to a 43-5 halftime lead and triggered the running clock for the mercy-rule conclusion. BNL went as deep as possible on the roster, with little drop in excellence.
“We made that a point, to get as many minutes for kids as we could,” BNL coach Greg Burton said. “I thought our second unit came in and executed better than our starters. I’ve been wanting to get them some minutes, but it’s tough when it’s the third quarter of a tight game, to get them in for the first time. It was nice to get their feet wet, and they did well with it.”
The immediate burst did the necessary damage. Sherrill scored three times, including a 3-point play, while Tori Nikirk and Katie Godlevske ripped treys. Elise Williams, making her first varsity appearance, turned a steal into a layup for the 18-0 lead that Mitchell (0-4) finally ended with Raylee Thompson’s baseline drive to a 3-point play at the 2:29 mark.
BNL ended the frame with a 28-3 advantage.
“We were able to jump on them early,” Burton said. “There were things that we’ve been practicing that we wanted to work on. Our leadership was good, where we kept everyone engaged. They were focused on taking this seriously.“
In the second half, BNL’s second unit earned a promotion. Schmeichel scored twice, Williams darted to a 3-point play, and Carsyn Amburgey converted Makaya Jackson’s sharp pass for a bucket for the third-quarter highlights.
“We used this game to get us ready for other teams,” Schmeichel said. “We wanted to take this seriously. We tried our best to stay focused and play like we play.”
Williams added 9 points and Nikirk totaled 7. BNL has now averaged 45 points per win during its streak.
“From the get-go, we were doing what we always do, getting fast breaks, focused on running on our sets,” Sherrill said. “Staying disciplined, playing our game, even though we knew it would not be that much of a challenge. We still wanted to get better at things.”
Mitchell’s perspective was different. The Bluejackets, who lost starter Leighann Thompson (a right knee injury suffered against Perry Central on Friday night), didn’t back down, but they could not overcome 35 turnovers (including 18 in the first quarter, when BNL unveiled multiple presses).
“We had a ton of turnovers,” Mitchell coach Dakota Brasher said. “Some of that is youth and inexperience. It’s trial by fire right now. We had girls in there that had not seen that before. But we got substantially better.
“They’re a little bigger, a little quicker, a little faster, a little stronger. But there was no back-down in our girls. We got outplayed a little bit, but as far as physicality, we did a good job. We have girls that are here for the right reasons. We played really hard. We had errors, but we played hard. We played tough-nosed for 32 minutes.“
Anna Sowders had 4 points to pace the Jackets.
BNL will visit Bloomington South on Tuesday, while Mitchell will journey to Loogootee that night.
BEDFORD NL STARS (61)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
22 Miley Sherrill, f 0-1 5-8 2-3 2 1 12
32 Trinidy Bailey, f 0-1 0-2 2-2 3 1 2
12 Tori Nikirk, g 2-4 2-4 1-2 1 2 7
23 Katie Godlevske, g 1-6 2-8 0-0 4 0 5
20 Paige Burton, g 0-1 0-2 0-0 2 1 0
30 Makaya Jackson 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 0 1
21 Jordynn Blann 0-1 1-3 2-2 1 3 4
11 Trinity Schmeichel 0-0 4-6 2-4 1 0 10
24 Elise Williams 0-0 2-2 5-9 2 2 9
50 Harryson Hayes 0-2 2-9 1-2 6 1 5
44 Sammie Nusbaum 0-0 0-2 0-0 3 0 0
31 Carsyn Amburgey 0-0 1-1 2-3 1 1 4
40 Elahdy Ray 0-0 1-2 0-0 1 0 2
Totals 3-16 20-49 18-29 29 12 61
MITCHELL BLUEJACKETS (16)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
15 Abigail Fountain, f 0-0 1-1 0-0 3 1 2
11 Raylee Thompson, g 0-1 1-2 1-3 2 3 3
1 Paisley Modglin, g 0-1 1-2 0-0 3 2 2
20 Jorja Lamm, g 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 1 0
3 Anna Sowders, g 0-1 2-6 0-0 5 4 4
0 Asiah Saunders 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 1 0
4 Gwen Eastridge 0-0 0-3 0-0 1 2 0
22 Gracie Kohlhaas 1-4 1-4 0-0 0 1 3
24 Ava Woods 0-0 1-3 0-2 2 0 2
14 Karlee Gabhart 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
12 Avah Cooper 0-0 0-1 0-0 0 3
Totals 1-8 7-23 1-5 21 17 16
Bedford NL 28 15 12 6 – 61
Mitchell 3 2 4 7 – 16
Turnovers – BNL 11, Mitchell 35
Field goal percentage – BNL 20-49 (.408); Mitchell 7-23 (.304)
Free throw percentage – BNL 18-29 (.621); Mitchell 1-5 (.200)
