Spreen, Bedford North Lawrence give Bloomington South a hard time

Chloe Spreen exploded for a career high 35 points Tuesday night at Bloomington South.

That was made possible in part because her Bedford North Lawrence teammates, much as they love her, surely are seldom nice to her at practice. The more she gets pushed by them, the better she gets. And she returns the favor, playing with an uncommon motor from opening tip to final buzzer. Never not working, as the shampoo ad says.

"She plays really hard," BNL coach Jeff Allen said. "That's the one thing you have to... everybody's got strong points and weak points, but that kid plays so hard and she makes up for a lot of weak points when you have that kind of effort. She had a great night tonight."

So it's time, South has decided, to stop playing nice during its workouts, no matter how young many of the Panthers are this season. That was the big take away for the home team, after turning it over 34 times in a 61-27 pasting by the Class 4A No. 4 Stars.

"I told the girls, I really wasn't concerned with the score, but more with us being able to take care of the basketball," South coach Larry Winters said. "And obviously, we did a poor job of that. Moving forward, we talked about some intensity things that we do in practice to prepare for handling the basketball. I think we're probably a little too soft with each other because we don't want to make each other mad.

"So we get in a game like this, it shows. Whereas (Butler signee Karsyn Norman) and Spreen are probably all over each other in practice because they understand they're never going to see anyone put the same kind of pressure on them than they do each other. And when you realize that and understand that, it makes you a better ballplayer."

BNL (4-0) had nine steals in the first half and it didn't take long for South (1-2) to find itself in a 19-6 hole.

"It was definitely a different type of pressure that we haven't seen yet," South senior guard Carlie Pedersen said. "And we don't really put that much pressure on ourselves or on our teammates in practice, so we're going to start now, pushing each other way more than we have.

"In practice, we can't be lenient with each other. We've really got to dig deep and make each other better."

And that will start with the older players, like Pedersen, who already knew what was coming when the night started.

"For the freshman, the first time seeing that, it's not surprising to me," Winters said. "It's surprising to me that (Mya) Lawrence and Pedersen, didn't play a little better against it because they have seen it.

"That's concerning to me. The other concerning part to me is that we probably had one of the bigger players on the floor in Abbie (Lucas) and she finished the game with one rebound."

Defense, rebounding fuels BNL

Spreen was the savior on a night where BNL had trouble throwing it in the quarry, especially from long range. The junior went 12-of-20 from the field and 9-of-10 at the line, leaving the rest of the Stars just 9-of-35 shooting. But BNL did go 4-of-8 on 3s after a 1-of-11 start.

But all that was of no matter, as the Stars got after South on the defensive end, pressing, harassing. They also got after it on the glass, grabbing an absurd 17 offensive boards out of 29 total. As a result, South took just 26 shots.

"If you can defend and rebound when the shots aren't falling, you've still got a chance," Allen said. "That's something I was taught and believe. So if we can defend, eventually, we'll make shots."

BNL also did a good job finding a varsity of ways to score, layups off turnovers, taking the ball to the rim and getting to the line (going 9-of-11 in the first half, 14-of-17 overall), to work their way through a 10-of-34 start.

"We want to come out and be aggressive like that when we can," Allen said. "I will caution the kids when we're on the road, you can get in foul trouble, which we had a couple kids get in foul trouble, that always makes me nervous. But I like our effort. We've just got to play a little smarter at times."

As for Spreen, she didn't forget her other duties, sharing the rebounding lead (six) with Madisyn Bailey, picking up four steals and a couple of assists. All of her boards were on the offensive end.

"I think my kids play hard," Allen said. "A big part of it is that we don't have a lot of size, and we have to make up for it with something and I think it's the effort. We have a lot of speed so our defense is very moving as far as helping inside."

Third quarter boom

BNL got up 27-9 in the second quarter and got in a bit of a lull, or too big of a hurry, turning it over six times in the period and scoring just three points over the last 4:01 for a 30-15 halftime lead.

But the Stars bull-rushed out of the second-half break, going on a 21-6 surge, that included three straight 3s, two by Spreen, another by Karsyn Norman, to really blow it open. Norman finished a rough shooting night with 15 points.

"I thought we took some rushed shots and made some bad decisions and we talked about that at halftime," Allen said. "We started out in the third quarter, and guarded and did a better job of distributing the ball and making better decisions."

All night long, BNL's transition, whether defense to offense or vise-versa, was quick and sometimes too quick for the Panthers to handle.

"They are very athletic and skilled at all positions," Winters said. "They can all shoot the basketball, so they pose a very tough situation for you unless you can actually defend all five spots with a guard and handle the ball like they do. We're not there yet."

Pushing ahead

The Panthers have two freshmen playing major minutes off the bench and five total who dress varsity, so the quicker they grow up, the better South will be by the end of the season and the better they'll be able to get after each other in practice.

They'll take the lessons BNL taught them and move forward against a schedule that will continue to test them. The improvement has been there over the first three games and there's more to come. And with that, more confidence.

South jumps into Conference Indiana play Friday at home vs. Southport (2-3, 1-1) while BNL welcomes North Central (0-2) on Friday and Hoosier Hills Conference rival Jeffersonville on Saturday.

"Our whole goal is to be better by the end of the year," Winters said. "We have kids we have to bring along slowly, but they have to play for us. But we have to bring them along slowly as far their understanding and seeing this type of basketball.

"With Columbus East and Bedford, you don't see that at Jackson Creek, Batchelor and St. Charles."

Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com or 812-331-4381 and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.

BEDFORD NORTH LAWRENCE 61, BLOOMINGTON SOUTH 27

Bedford North Lawrence (61): Pride f 3-6 0-0 7. Spreen g 12-20 9-10 35, Brown g 0-4 0-0 0, Norman g 5-18 3-3 15, M.Bailey 0-2 1-2 1, T.Bailey 0-0 0-0 0, Baumgart 1-2 0-0 2, Crane 0-0 1-2 1, Nikirk 0-0 0-0 0, Godlevske 0-1 0-0 0, Tillett 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-55 14-17 61.

Bloomington South (27): Heim f 2-3 2-2 6, A.Lucas f 5-6 0-0 10, Pedersen g 0-2 0-0 0, M.Lucas g 2-3 0-0 4, Lawrence g 0-3 0-0 0, McKay 1-3 1-2 3, Hall 1-4 0-0 3, Lashley 0-2 1-3 1, Barada 0-0 0-0 0, Grimes 0-0 0-0 0, Craft 0-0 0-0 0, Hays 0-0 0-0 0, Bryant 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 11-26 4-7 27.

Bedford North Lawrence (4-0) 19 | 11 | 22 | 9 — 61

Bloomington South (1-2) 6 | 9 | 8 | 4 — 27

3-point goals: Bedford North Lawrence 5-19 (Spreen 2-5, Norman 2-8, Pride 1-2, Goldevske 0-1, Brown 0-3), Bloomington South 1-5 (Hall 1-2, Lawrence 0-1, A.Lucas 0-1, Lashley 0-1). Rebounds: Bedford North Lawrence 29 (Spreen 6, M.Bailey 6), Bloomington South 24 (Heim 5, M.Lucas 5). Team fouls: Bedford North Lawrence 13, Bloomington South 14. Turnovers: Bedford North Lawrence 13, Bloomington South 34. JV: Bedford North Lawrence, 39-17.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Spreen, Bedford North Lawrence give Bloomington South a hard time