By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – The finish line, a shifting target when leads disappear, kept moving. The closer Bedford North Lawrence got to the obvious goal, the more that objective proved elusive. Noblesville had been put away but would not go away.
After a comfortable advantage had been wasted, like dust in the wind, the Stars blew back with a fierce final surge, salvaging the consolation game in the annual Pete Pritchett Limestone Classic on Friday night. Spurred by pride, and a verbal lashing, BNL responded with a champion’s closing barrage.
The sixth-ranked Stars broke away from 41-40 danger with 17 consecutive points, pulling free for a 58-42 triumph over the Millers. Chloe Spreen had 17 points and junior guard Tori Nikirk added a career-high 15 as BNL bounced back from a first-round disappointment and avenged two losses suffered during last year’s state championship run.
BNL (13-2) never trailed, but a 39-26 lead midway through the third quarter had vanished when Noblesville center C.C. Quigley got loose for a point-blank post layup with 5:58 left. BNL coach Jeff Allen spent the next minute in a timeout with some point-blank words, which hit home as the Stars blasted away.
Nikirk started it with a wing trey, and Spreen scored in transition. Nikirk converted a layup off a Trinidy Bailey pass as the Stars tore apart Noblesville’s press. Nikirk followed with another breakaway, Miley Sherrill was left unattended for a layup, and Nikirk converted a steal into points. Sherrill and Bailey capped the deciding run with layups before the Millers ended a 5:52 scoreless skid with a meaningless final bucket.
That ending, breaking the tape at the line with a runaway win, will make the holiday much more enjoyable.
“We had played a pretty good game up to that point, and we had a series of bad decisions that cut that lead down,” Allen said. “My focus was, ‘Hey, we’ve been through this already, we should be better at it. Let’s go finish this game.’ And the kids did a great job.”
Noblesville (7-7) was in constant catch-up mode after BNL hit three first-quarter treys, and Bella Jackson started the second with another for a 14-8 edge. The Millers scratched within 16-15 before Spreen scored twice, then got to 20-19 on back-to-back layups by Quigley and Meredith Tippner. BNL finished the half with two straight Nikirk bombs, then opened the second with Madisyn Bailey’s lane jumper and Miley Sherrill’s 3-point play for a double-digit lead. Sherrill and Spreen splashed wing threes for a 39-26 margin late in the third frame.
Noblesville surged again with Reagan Wilson’s trey, Ally Hutchinson’s soft baseline jumper, Wilson’s 15-footer off a screen and Tippner’s runout in transition. That was followed by the Quigley post and the BNL timeout that changed the course and the outcome.
“We were really tired, and they took advantage of that,” Noblesville coach Donna Buckley said. “They got a lot of easy opportunities. Once they got on a little run, everything fell apart for us on both ends of the floor.”
Spreen added six rebounds and passed Marla (Inman) Eltrevoog for third place on the school’s career scoring list. Her next target will be Dominique McBryde. Nikirk buried three treys and totaled 9 points during the deciding burst. Sherrill finished with 12 points.
“After the disappointment this morning, we knew we had to come back, we had to fight,” Nikirk said. “Doing that really boosted our confidence again.”
“Chloe will always get hers,” Buckley said. “We still tried to take her away, although we left her way too much. And we were so hyper-aware of her, other kids did a great job of stepping up and shooting the ball well.”
BNL’s other key stat was turnovers. After totaling 15 during the morning loss to No.9 Lake Central, the Stars had only one in the second half (and 8 overall).
“That’s outstanding against a team that runs a great zone defense and traps like they do,” Allen said. “We moved the ball well, shared the ball well. That’s what we’ve been looking for. Everyone is focused on Chloe and Madisyn, those other kids can make open shots and good decisions. Once you have that, things will get easier for Chloe and Madisyn.
“We had some kids this morning that were a little rattled. You could see our confidence start to grow as we did better in the second half. It was a really good win over a good team. Noblesville is a lot better than their record, there’s no doubt. It’s probably the best schedule (second according to the Sagarin rankings) in the state.”
Tippner paced Noblesville with 14 points while Quigley totaled 12. Wilson, who was a BNL thorn during the two wins over the Stars last season and a preseason candidate for Miss Basketball and other honors, was limited to 9 points.
“They run a lot of screen stuff for her, and the other kids did a really good job of understanding Madisyn needed a lot of help,” Allen said. “They gave it as much as they could.”
BNL will return to action on Dec. 28, hosting Evansville Central.
Lawrence Central 51, Lake Central 38: The top-ranked Bears won the Classic championship as Jaylah Lampley scored 20 points.
Lola Lampley added 14 points as Lawrence Central (15-1) remained unbeaten against in-state competition. Vanessa Wimberly paced the Indians (12-2) with 12 points while Riley Milausnic totaled 10.
NOBLESVILLE MILLERS (42)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
23 Meredith Tippner, f 0-1 5-10 4-5 8 2 14
43 C.C. Quigley, f 0-0 5-10 0-2 5 1 12
10 Brookelyn Grayson, g 0-0 0-1 0-0 1 0 0
22 Reagan Wilson, g 1-5 4-15 0-0 3 2 9
24 Kate Rollins, g 0-0 2-2 1-2 2 1 5
3 Ally Hutchinson 0-0 1-4 0-0 1 0 2
34 Bri Gray 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Totals 1-6 17-42 7-11 22 7 42
BEDFORD NL STARS (58)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
2 Chloe Spreen, f 3-7 7-14 0-0 6 1 17
22 Miley Sherrill, f 1-2 4-7 3-3 3 4 12
24 Madisyn Bailey, g 1-3 3-5 0-0 4 0 7
32 Trinidy Bailey, g 0-0 1-3 0-0 5 3 2
12 Tori Nikirk, g 3-7 6-11 0-0 2 3 15
20 Bella Jackson 1-2 2-5 0-0 5 1 5
23 Katie Godlevske 0-4 0-5 0-0 2 1 0
Totals 9-25 23-50 3-3 31 13 58
Noblesville 8 13 13 8 – 42
Bedford NL 11 15 15 17 – 58
Turnovers – Noblesville 7, BNL 8
Field goal percentage – Noblesville 17-42 (.405); BNL 23-50 (.460)
Free throw percentage – Noblesville 7-11 (.636); BNL 3-3 (1.000)
LAWRENCE CENTRAL 51, LAKE CENTRAL 38
Lawrence Central (15-1) – Lola Lampley 14, Mariah Garrett 4, Jaylah Lampley 20, Aniyah McKenzie 10, Laila Abdurraqib 3.
Lake Central (12-2) – Kennedie Burks 8, Riley Milausnic 10, Nadia Clayton 1, Vanessa Wimberly 12, Aniyah Bishop 4, Ayla Krygier 3
Pete Pritchett Limestone Classic
All-Tournament Team
Jaylah Lampley, Lawrence Central
Lola Lampley, Lawrence Central
Chloe Spreen, BNL
Meredith Tippner, Noblesville
Riley Milausnic, Lake Central
Reagan Wilson, Noblesville
Tori Nikirk, BNL
Vanessa Wimberly, Lake Central
