Lady Pioneers show flashes in North Star loss

With a 7-2 run to open the contest, the Big Sandy girls basketball team looked ready to bounce back Saturday against North Star.

The Lady Pioneers were coming off a 58-26 defeat at two-time defending state champion Box Elder a night earlier. In the opening minutes, they looked read to pick on someone their own size.

Senior Seanna Demontiney made a pass that set up classmate Lainey Gregory beautifully for a lay-in to make it 2-2. Fellow senior Amanda Cline snagged a steal and Gregory put the Pioneers on top with a three-pointer from the free throw line extended. A Kylee Sternberg steal and subsequent trip to the free-throw line widened the Big Sandy lead.

Sadly, it would turn out to be their largest lead of the game.

"We made a lot of plays starting off," said Pioneers coach Pete Jerrel. "(North Star) adjusted with that press. We started taking quicker shots than we wanted to."

When Big Sandy's shooting went cold, the Knights took advantage to the tune of a 14-0 run and never looked back. What the guests from the Hi-Line communities of Kremlin, Gildford, Hingham and Rudyard lacked in depth (merely three players suited up on the bench), they more than compensated for with size. At 5-9, twin towers Shayla Borlaug and Kaytlyn Domire dominated down low for North Star. Unable to put anyone on the floor taller than 5-6, the Pioneers could not measure up and fell 66-29.

"They've got the two big girls and they're quick," Jerrel said of the opponent. "They see the floor well. They're ball players."

Jerrel continues to tinker with his lineup and freshmen like Angie Sant, whose pair of foul shots were the first addition to the Pioneers' second half point total, saw second-half minutes.

"We're still trying to find different rotations, see who works," he said.

With a running clock in the fourth quarter, the Pioneers managed to finish strong. They outscored their guests 10-6 with Demontiney accounting for half that total.

Big Sandy (0-5, 1-7) will return to action at 5 p.m. Friday hosting Turner. They will travel Saturday to Chester and complete the first rotation through 9C district play facing off at 6 p.m. against the Hi-Line Hawks of Chester-Joplin-Inverness.