By Justin Sokeland
(BEDFORD) – In the heat of the summer, Silver Creek burned Bedford North Lawrence, leaving a mark on some proud egos. In the dead of winter, the Stars lashed back, with deadly force. And Silver Creek will feel the sting for a long time.
The Stars, motivated by revenge for a June scrimmage loss, were the avengers, and Marvel-ous in that role. They flexed muscles without mercy and disintegrated Class 3A’s fifth-ranked team with a Thanos snap and a gem-worthy performance.
Madison Webb scored 15 points and set an early tone of devastation as BNL (8-4) pounded the Dragons 66-35 on Thursday night. Irye Gomez also tallied 15, part of a sensational attack of balance and beauty that left Silver Creek (10-2) gasping at the ferocity.
Never was this battle close. The Stars blasted to a 20-2 lead, shrugged off the Dragons’ few minutes of competitive fire, and roared to a 29-point advantage in the third quarter. Silver Creek learned a hot lesson: don’t give the Stars a match.
“It snowballed on us,” Silver Creek coach Scott Schoen said. “That’s what we call, in my world, an old-fashioned butt kicking. That’s what it was from the jump.”
Webb started it, scoring four times from the lane as a point of emphasis. Silver Creek starts five guards, none of them able to measure up to BNL’s 6-foot-3 mountain in the middle. Freshman Karsyn Norman dumped more fuel on the fire with a transition basket and a wing 3-pointer before the Dragons ended the run with their second basket at the 5:15 mark of the second period.
BNL cruised to the half with a 26-13 lead, then poured it on. Norman popped a trey, Gomez and Chloe McKnight slashed through traffic for layups, McKnight drilled another bomb, and Peyton Sweet capped an amazing set of ball movement with a layup. At 49-20, after a brutal 23-4 run, the Dragons were slain.
Schoen felt relieved, as poorly as the Dragons played and shot early, to be within 10 when Emme Rooney opened the third with a trey. “Then . . . Whooo,” Schoen said. And that’s all that needed to be said.
BNL coach Jeff Allen was stunned by the blowout, comparing it to the 71-45 thumping of No.1 Columbus North in the first game of the 2013 regional. If he woke up tomorrow with his head sewn to the carpet, he wouldn’t be more surprised.
“I don’t know I’ve been so surprised about a lopsided win,” he said. “It was that kind of feeling, because I think they’re a very good team. We just played really well.
“We got them down, and we just kept having an answer. There’s just nights like that when you play well. The kids did a really good job of executing the game plan. Sometimes you get it right and the kids execute it well.”
The plan was simple: feed Webb, and zone out Silver Creek’s quickness. The Dragons had 7 turnovers in the first quarter (what Schoen labeled “no-talent turnovers, where we could get someone from the Sunoco gas station to do that”) and hit only 5 of 20 shots in the first half.
“They didn’t have an answer for Maddie,” Allen said. “We wanted to go to work there early. If she could be successful, it would good for her and open up stuff on the outside.”
“We were focused from the start,” Webb said. “They thought they would come in here and kick our butts. We weren’t going to let that happen here at home.”
McKnight totaled 13 points (plus 8 rebounds as BNL owned a whopping 40-20 advantage there) and Norman finished with 12. The Stars shot a sizzling 63 percent (while converting only 5 of 15 from long range).
“Their defense did a nice job, and their ball movement was great,” Schoen said. “They played lights out. There’s a reason we didn’t play well and it’s a credit to those guys.
“This is a great measure for us, and this showed us where we are. We have to show up in big-time games.”
Kynidi Striverson paced Silver Creek with 9 points.
BNL will finish the 2019 portion of the schedule against Madison on Saturday afternoon.
SILVER CREEK DRAGONS (35)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
0 Kynidi Striverson, g 2-4 3-9 1-2 3 1 9
22 Alana Striverson, g 0-2 2-5 1-2 3 2 5
30 Emme Rooney, g 2-5 3-7 0-0 2 0 8
15 Jaclyn Emly, g 1-4 1-9 0-0 5 2 3
33 Savannah Kirchgessner, g 0-3 1-8 0-0 2 2 2
13 Sydney Sierota 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 1 0
14 Abby Grimm 1-2 1-3 0-0 3 1 3
20 Kiela Phillips 0-2 0-2 2-2 1 1 2
11 Maddie Hunter 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 0 0
23 Olivia Johnston 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
4 Jenna DuPont 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
5 Hallie Foley 0-0 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
31 Meridith Wilkinson 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 0 3
Totals 7-25 12-48 4-8 20 11 35
BEDFORD NL STARS (66)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
22 Irye Gomez, f 1-3 6-9 2-2 5 3 15
32 Madison Webb, c 0-0 7-9 1-4 7 1 15
11 Chloe McKnight, g 1-7 5-12 2-3 8 3 13
21 Karsyn Norman, g 2-3 4-7 2-2 3 0 12
24 Gracie Crulo-Rood, g 0-0 1-1 0-0 7 0 2
23 Jenna Louden 1-1 1-1 0-0 2 1 3
40 Haley Deckard 0-0 1-2 0-0 1 0 2
50 Peyton Sweet 0-0 1-1 0-0 2 3 2
20 Carlee Kern 0-0 1-1 0-0 0 1 2
12 Makena Moore 0-1 0-1 0-0 2 0 0
44 Grace Kinser 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Totals 5-15 27-43 7-11 40 12 66
Silver Creek 2 11 10 12 – 35
Bedford NL 15 11 23 17 – 66
Turnovers – Silver Creek 12, BNL 16
Field goal percentage – Silver Creek 12-48 (.250); BNL 27-43 (.627)
Free throw percentage – Silver Creek 4-8 (.500); BNL 7-11 (.636)
