By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
JEFFERSONVILLE – Going nowhere in a hurry, pushed out of its comfort zone, Bedford North Lawrence rushed to its own doom. The Devils made them do it.
With Jeffersonville’s quickness and tenacity at full throttle, BNL’s offense couldn’t keep pace. Missed shots and turnovers were a bad combination, as the Stars gnashed their teeth in torment. The Devils lit the fire, BNL suffered third-degree burns.
Ending a seven-game losing streak in the intense series, Jeffersonville took advantage of BNL’s scoring woes to record a 46-30 victory on Tuesday night. Kelis Dansby battled through foul trouble to pace Jeffersonville with 13 points, while BNL failed to produce a double-digit scorer and suffered its first Hoosier Hills Conference loss as a direct result.
Jeffersonville (6-2, 2-1 in the league) exploded with an 11-0 run to begin the second quarter, blasted to a 20-point lead in the first half, and never offered BNL (3-5, 1-1) any respite from the distress. Just a drop of water on the tongue would have been appreciated. Hades hath no mercy, no fury like a shot scorned.
“We made them play at our pace,” Jeffersonville coach Taylor Sykes said. “It was our defensive intensity. It starts on defense. We had to make them play at a speed they were uncomfortable playing. We gave them a lot of ball pressure, and that helped our transition offense. These girls bought in defensively, and that sealed the win for us.”
BNL struggled through familiar problems, missing its first 9 shots before Katie Godlevske came off the bench to swish a pair of treys in the final minute of the opening quarter. Yet the Stars trailed only 7-6 at that point. That changed during the first four minutes of the second. Jeff’s Kiya Boatwright – a demon on the boards – converted a rebound basket, Makenzie Mason muscled to a 3-point play, and freshman Makenna Taylor popped a bomb for an 18-6 lead.
Taylor drilled two more from deep and Alyviah Lewis-Redd ripped another as the Devils roared to a 29-9 advantage.
The Stars managed only four baskets (all from long range, three by Godlevske) in the first half.
“We relied so heavily on jump shots,” BNL coach Greg Burton said. “And they didn’t go in. We won’t be able to break people down and get to the rim when we want. So we have to execute and get shots at the basket. That’s an area we have to get better.
“We got beat on the boards, and they got a lot of offensive rebounds and putbacks. That hurt us. We let Taylor get loose, and that killed us.”
In the third, Dansby made up for lost time. She had sat for the final five minutes of the half with three fouls, but she came back with four straight buckets as Jeff cruised to its biggest lead at 37-14.
Taylor finished with 9 points. Boatwright had 9 rebounds as the Devils recorded a 38-30 edge in that statistical category. Jeffersonville didn’t light the world on fire, with 18 turnovers and 36 percent shooting (including 5 of 20 from distance), but compared to BNL’s numbers, that was toasty. Jeffersonville also stayed in the league race after falling to conference leader Floyd Central last week.
“Although Kelis is our leading scorer, and she’s a leader of this team, we have other players who can step up,” Sykes said. “We have others capable of filling those shoes. That makes our team very dynamic.
“This win was huge for this program. It had been a while since we had beaten BNL, so it’s part of the change those girls are making in this program. They have rebranded the program, so it was nice to see them bounce back.”
BNL finished 10 of 43 from the floor (23 percent) and totaled 21 turnovers. Godlevske had 9 points, Miley Sherrill was limited to 7. They combined for half of the field goals.
“They went on that run, and the ball wouldn’t go in,” Burton said. “We had open shots, but we can’t rely on 3-pointers only. We will get better at executing, we have a long season ahead of us. That has to get better.”
BNL will continue its busy week, hosting Seymour on Thursday.
BEDFORD NL STARS (30)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
22 Miley Sherrill, f 1-2 2-5 2-4 4 3 7
30 Makaya Jackson, f 0-0 0-3 2-2 2 0 2
32 Trinidy Bailey, g 0-4 1-8 1-2 8 1 3
12 Tori Nikirk, g 0-2 1-5 0-0 1 2 2
21 Jordynn Blann, g 0-3 0-4 0-0 2 0 0
23 Katie Godlevske 3-9 3-12 0-0 6 3 9
20 Paige Burton 0-0 0-0 0-0 2 1 0
50 Harryson Hayes 0-0 2-3 0-0 2 0 4
11 Trinity Schmeichel 0-0 0-0 0-2 1 1 0
24 Elise Williams 0-0 1-1 1-1 1 1 3
44 Sammie Nusbaum 0-0 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
31 Adalynn Bailey 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 1 0
Totals 4-21 10-43 6-11 30 13 30
JEFFERSONVILLE RED DEVILS (46)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
5 Maizy Smith, f 1-4 1-7 0-0 4 1 3
33 Kiya Boatwright, f 0-0 2-6 0-0 9 1 4
4 Makenna Taylor, g 3-7 3-10 0-0 2 3 9
11 Makenzie Mason, g 0-0 2-4 1-1 3 1 5
23 Kelis Dansby, g 0-1 5-9 3-4 3 4 13
13 Alyviah Lewis-Redd 1-4 1-4 0-0 6 1 3
2 Tyanna Horsman 0-2 0-4 0-0 1 2 4
10 Katie Lawrence 0-0 2-3 0-0 6 1 4
15 Gerrin Johnson 0-1 0-2 0-0 0 0 0
21 Maliyah Poindexter 0-0 0-0 0-0 4 1 0
14 Marlee Williams 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
44 Lorelei Darling 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
3 Mya Corbin 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 1 1
35 Jazlynn Bryant 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 5-20 18-50 5-7 38 16 46
Bedford NL 6 6 6 12 – 30
Jeffersonville 7 22 8 9 – 46
Turnovers – BNL 21, Jeffersonville 18
Field goal percentage – BNL 10-43 (.233); Jeffersonville 18-50 (.360)
Free throw percentage – BNL 6-11 (.545); Jeffersonville 5-7 (.714)
