Photo by Jimmy Lafakis/The Herald
Jasper senior Hannah Schwenk (left) drives to the basket in the second quarter of Saturday afternoon’s game against
Bedford North Lawrence in Jasper. The Stars earned a 65-34 victory over the Wildcats.

By JIMMY LAFAKIS
jlafakis@dcherald.com

JASPER — As the regular season comes to a close, proficient shooting becomes even more crucial. Once Bedford North Lawrence got going during Saturday afternoon’s game, the Stars proved to be a formidable opponent for Jasper (4-11.) Wildcats head coach Jessica Mehringer identified some learning points from the 65-34 loss. 

“We’ve never really shied away from playing a tough schedule,” Mehringer said. “We’re getting our kids in a position to be able to compete at a sectional. Games like this definitely help us be able to look at ourselves and see what we’re doing at this point. We’ll see what we can be doing better and make adjustments that we need to make. We have teams in our sectional who will defensively be out and into us, just like Bedford was today. We’ve got to be prepared for that.”  

Jasper’s offense created some favorable opportunities throughout the game. When the Wildcats beat the Stars’ press, the halfcourt offense maintained a steady flow. Mehringer is focused on helping the Wildcats convert their inside chances. 

“We made an adjustment in one of the offenses that we ran,” Mehringer said. “It worked really well. They moved the ball really well, and we got some easy looks. We’re missing layups. We have to have a mindset that we’re going to hit those shots, not, ‘I hope I don’t miss that shot.’ It’s a confidence thing on some of that, but we’re getting the shots.” 

Jasper senior Emma Shelton scored a team-high 10 points. Fellow senior Kendyl Ruhe contributed eight points, while BNL junior Chloe McKnight led all scorers with 17 points. 

“Obviously, Bedford is a good team,” Mehringer said. “They’re fast. Defensively, we did a decent job. We let a few shooters get loose a couple times when we were in the zone. When we switched to the man (defense), we did a better job defending. It was good to see that.” 

Jasper made four 3-pointers in the game. Although the Wildcats earned some opportunities to score inside, they shot just two free throws. Floor spacing continues to be a priority for Mehringer and the team. 

“If you’re not hitting shots, it makes it difficult to get a catch anywhere,” Mehringer said. “If you get catches inside and hit a shot or two, you can get a catch and kick it out. You can get a better look on the outside. We did a really good job with the adjustment in our halfcourt offense. We got a lot of catches in the paint and were able to hit high-low a couple of times. We were able to kick out for a three a couple of times. If we can get catches in places when people are moving to the right spots, we can really open the game up a little bit.” 

Jasper will return to the court for a 7:30 p.m. county rivalry game against Northeast Dubois on Tuesday in Jasper.  

“Our kids know each other,” Mehringer said. “It’s just a great game. The kids are looking forward to it. I think it’s another opportunity. We’ll look at some of the changes that we made for this game and practice those. Tuesday night’s game will be big for us coming into sectionals, too.”