By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – Chloe McKnight really didn’t want to wait one more game to make history. And as her senior teammate discovered, sitting at home under virus quarantine, that might never come. One more is not guaranteed any more. Carpe diem.
McKnight seized the day, becoming the eighth player in Bedford North Lawrence history to score 1,000 career points, as the No.7 Stars celebrated a premature Senior Night – minus one – with a memorable victory over Seymour.
McKnight scored 20 points, and freshman Chloe Spreen also scored 20, as BNL (8-1) rumbled to a 62-37 victory over the Owls. The Stars, shorthanded with senior Irye Gomez sidelined for virus exposure for 10 days, improved to 4-0 in the Hoosier Hills Conference.
With her final point on Thursday night, a free throw with 1:59 left, McKnight joined elite company that includes two Miss Basketball winners and four Indiana All-Stars in the 1K Club. She was determined to reach that mark at home.
“It’s really a big deal, getting my name on there,” she said. “It’s an honor.”
So much emotion swirled as BNL moved the senior festivities far forward from the normal slot of the final home game. Gomez’s absence dampened the mood. BNL’s slow start, a 9-8 lead after the opening quarter, increased the internal angst. It was all so 2020.
That’s when Spreen, one of the starters who was shifted to the bench for the first 5:13 as the five available seniors took center stage, splashed on the scene. She scored 11 points during a 17-1 run that restored the expected dominance, powering the Stars to a 28-14 halftime lead. When Spreen and McKnight buried treys to take BNL in front by 20 midway through the third, the only drama was the McKnight chase.
She got there with 15 second-half points. The perfect scenario would have been hitting the mark with a 3-pointer. But this is 2020. Her team made sure she finished it off, one way or another.
“When they knew Chloe was close, they were really trying to find their teammate and friend to get her over that threshold,” BNL coach Jeff Allen said. “You love to see that as a coach. Those kids care about each other.”
With so many issues swirling, it’s a wonder anyone could function normally. The upperclass contingent of Haley Deckard (6 points, 8 rebounds), Makena Moore (5 points), Jenna Louden (6 points) and Grace Kinser made their contributions, and they can all thank Spreen for settling the stress.
“She is growing,” Allen said of his talented freshman. “She’s starting to come into her own. She’s starting to get to the point of settling in and feeling confident.
“The seniors did a great job, like they typically have. We have a lot of basketball left to play, which helps. This is typically toward the end of the season, getting close to tournament time, which puts more stress on the situation. But the seniors were a little emotional about it, and not having Irye puts a bummer on the night. We feel bad for her.”
On the flip side, the Owls (4-4, 0-2) were bummed by 27 turnovers. Grace Meyer and Kendall Sterling had 10 points each, but the mistakes created too many BNL scoring opportunities.
“No doubt about it,” Seymour coach Jason Longmeier said. ”Our halfcourt defense was good enough to keep us in it. But out of their 62 points, 30 came off transition or turnovers. They’re too good to do that. They score enough points on their own.
“But their defense had something to do with it. They saw we were struggling and cranked it up a couple of notches. That hurt us.”
BNL, after blazing Jeffersonville with 18 treys on Tuesday night, were more mortal, hitting 7 of 22 from long range. Spreen was unaffected by all the circumstances as she hit 8 of 11 shots. McKnight hit 4 treys.
“They’re going to beat anybody in the state hitting 18 3-pointers,” Longmeier said. “Our job was to take them out of what they wanted to do. Our focus was keeping them from penetrating and staying attached to shooters.”
McKnight joined Jorie Allen (1,930), Dominque McBryde (1,762), Marla Inman (1,658), Jenna Allen (1,495), Tracey Sargent (1,180), Brittani Rizzi (1,138) and Kristen Pritchett (1,035) on the 1,000–point list.
BNL will return to action on Dec. 17, visiting Class 3A No.1 Silver Creek. Gomez will not be available until Dec. 19 at Madison.
SEYMOUR OWLS (37)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
22 Grace Meyer, f 1-2 3-7 3-4 9 0 10
20 Grace Schrader, f 0-3 3-6 2-4 3 2 8
25 Kendall Sterling, g 0-2 3-13 4-5 1 3 10
3 Alyssa Perry, g 0-1 1-3 0-1 4 1 2
1 Jamya Miller, g 0-1 0-1 0-0 3 5 0
23 Brooke Trinkle 1-3 1-3 4-4 1 0 7
13 Kendrick Sterling 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
12 Kaylee Waskom 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
33 Lexi Morris 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 2-12 11-34 13-17 27 11 37
BEDFORD NL STARS (62)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
40 Haley Deckard, f 0-1 3-6 0-0 8 3 6
12 Makena Moore, f 0-1 2-4 1-2 2 1 5
44 Grace Kinser, c 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
11 Chloe McKnight, g 4-13 6-19 4-7 2 3 20
23 Jenna Louden, g 0-0 2-4 2-2 5 2 6
21 Karsyn Norman 1-2 2-6 0-0 1 5 5
2 Chloe Spreen 2-4 8-11 2-2 2 3 20
24 Carlee Kern 0-0 0-0 0-0 5 0 0
Totals 7-22 23-51 9-13 27 17 62
Seymour 8 6 11 12 – 37
Bedford NL 9 19 14 20 – 62
Turnovers – Seymour 27, BNL 14
Field goal percentage – Seymour 11-34 (.324); BNL 23-51 (.451)
Free throw percentage – Seymour 13-17 (.764); BNL 9-13 (.692)
