Bedford North Lawrence comes up clutch to down Fishers and win Indiana Class 4A girls basketball title

Brown scores four points in final 19.5 seconds

Author:
Phillip B. Wilson
Publish date:
Feb 26, 2023 1:50 AM EST

By Phillip B. Wilson | Photos by Tyler Hart

INDIANAPOLIS — The loss of leading scorer Chloe Spreen to her fifth foul with 1:50 remaining could have been devastating for Bedford North Lawrence as its Class 4A state title game against Fishers came down to the final possessions.

But nothing had gone according to plan for the Stars for much of Saturday night. They never made a 3-pointer in 11 tries. And not having Spreen, who had scored a game-high 20 points, proved to be one final hurdle to overcome.

That the Stars did with the game tied in the final minute. Senior guard Emma Brown made a driving, go-ahead layup for a two-point lead with 19.5 seconds remaining. And after Fishers was called for an illegal screen, Brown calmly stepped to the line and sank both free throws with 3.7 seconds remaining to give Bedford North Lawrence a 46-42 triumph.

The Stars celebrated the program’s fifth state title and first since 2014.

Brown admitted with a laugh that she was an unlikely hero, considering her 4.7-point scoring average. She finished with six points, but those final four were all-important.

“I scored what, four points in the last minute of the game?” she said, amused at that fact. “Most games, I don’t even score.”

Of those clinching free throws, she said, “I just tried to block everything out.”

The junior Spreen laughed with her and added, “Go out and get it done.”

The Stars (27-3) endured against the Tigers (26-3) in a matchup of top-ranked 4A teams, according to SBLive.com, which had Fishers No. 1 and Bedford North Lawrence No. 2.

It could have gone either way, for sure. And considering recent history, Fishers seemed poised to claim the crown after showing their resiliency to emerge from a Sectional 8 that had four top-10 teams including defending champion Noblesville.

That sectional also had 2019 state champion Hamilton Southeastern and 2018 runner-up Zionsville.

All three of Bedford North Lawrence’s losses came against teams in that sectional, two to Noblesville and another to Zionsville. But Fishers knocked off Noblesville 67-64 and Hamilton Southeastern 58-44 in the sectional round. The Stars were well aware of the caliber of competition.

“They’re an outstanding team,” ninth-year Stars coach Jeff Allen said of Fishers. “I felt like over the last few weeks, we’ve gotten better as a team from the time we played Noblesville and Zionsville. Everybody at this stage, they probably think they’ve gotten better. The thing is decision-making and figuring out ways to make plays against good teams. We did it last week against Lawrence North and Center Grove.

“Tonight, if you told me we wouldn’t make a three and Chloe was going to foul out and we were still going to have a chance to win, I probably wouldn’t have agreed with you before the game. But these kids, they figure out how to get it done. They keep playing hard. That’s why I love ‘em. It’s a great bunch of kids to coach.”

Therein lies what was different about these Stars.

“I’ve had some really nice teams, but I don’t think I’ve ever had a group that actually just plays this hard all the time,” Allen said. “They don’t take a break. They don’t take a possession off. You either have that or you don’t.”

Fishers was typically led by the Ball State-bound Smith sisters, Hailey and Olivia. But this wasn’t their night. They combined to make just two of 12 shots for nine points.

The Tigers catalyst turned out to be junior point guard Talia Harris, who finished with 15 points. It was Harris who hit a foul shot to tie the game at 40 with 1:50 remaining, then sank a pull-up jumper to make it 42-all with 45 seconds remaining.

“I was just trying to do whatever we needed,” Harris said. “It was just them getting to the basket late game. We had some fouls we probably shouldn’t have given up. We did everything we could. We played defense. We hit big shots. They hit big shots.

“We tried to stop them, we just couldn’t. It was big shots after big shots.”

Fishers sixth-year coach Lauren Votaw praised her group for fighting to the end.

“They’ve gone through hard things in life,” Votaw said. “They’ve gone through hard things this season. And they fought, that’s how they got here. We didn’t come out on the end we wanted to tonight, but I’m super proud of the young ladies they’ve turned into. These seniors, man, they’ve given so much to this program. The impact they’ve had, for years to come, they have no idea the impact they have made.”

She was particularly proud of Harris, who took advantage of ball screens to create scoring chances.

When Spreen fouled out, Fishers could have thought this was their chance.

“To their credit, they had another kid step in,” Votaw said. “They were able to finish. The illegal screen call down here, it wasn’t what we would have designed down the stretch, but I’m very proud of our kids. They were right there.

“We came out of the toughest sectional, the toughest conference in the state, and these kids endured all that. It wasn’t the ending that we wanted, but it can’t take away what these kids have done, what these seniors have done. There’s only two teams in the state with a higher winning percentage than our seniors in the last two years. One is right there (Bedford North Lawrence) and the other is Lanesville, which won (Class 1A) earlier today.”

As difficult as the situation was to take a seat late, Spreen insisted she never lost hope.

“I had full confidence my team was going to pull it out,” she said. “I’m just glad we won.”

As a youngster, Spreen had a picture taken with coach Allen’s oldest daughter, Jenna, after the Allens won state together in 2014.

“We always looked up to those girls,” Spreen said. “You really think about it, we’ve been working our whole lives for this.”

Coach Allen mentioned how Bedford North Lawrence had legitimate contenders since then, but couldn’t get it done. That made the program’s fifth crown all the more satisfying.

“We’re a small town,” Allen said. “Our kids grow up with a basketball tradition. They all want to be good basketball players and they want to come play for the Stars. Success does that. Kids want to come out to play and they expect to win when they walk out on the floor.”

Despite every obstacle, these Stars were resolute.

“It didn’t look like we were going to win,” Allen said. “We couldn’t make a three. One of our best players fouls out. These kids find a way to win. And they’ve done that all year long. They’re resilient.

“To come back and win that basketball game is just a phenomenal feeling.”

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