Madison Terry
Eva Wagoner
Better foes outmatched the Big Sandy girls on the basketball court on Friday and Saturday as the difficult 2021 season winds down.
The Pioneers fell 79-24 on Friday at Box Elder and 65-8 to North Star on Saturday at home.
The visit to the Bears represented one of the better offensive outputs this season for Big Sandy.
"We came out a little scared," Pioneers coach Pete Jerrel said, as the Pioneer girls struggled against the Bears' 2-2-1 full-court press and superior height. "After we settled down, we played hard ... and shot better than (Saturday) night."
In the home matchup, while time of possession is typically not a common statistic in basketball, it evidently did not favor the Pioneers. Especially in the first half.
Big Sandy struggled to advance the ball past half-court and when they did, they had to battle to get shots off. Even the better ones the Pioneers took failed to connect.
"(North Star) does a really good job of pressing. They'll give Fort Benton and Turner a run, I'm sure," Jerrel said. "We got sped up at times and we just turn the ball over. We got shots up .... (but) I don't think we could have hoisted a kid up there and have them drop it down and it would go in."
The Knights had already built a 38-0 lead before the Pioneers got on the board. Amy Gasvoda got one to go from about 5 feet in front of the basket with an assist from Daisy LaBuda, as 2 minutes, 10 seconds remained in the first half.
Gasvoda and Lainey Terry each contributed 4 points for the Pioneers.
Big Sandy actually outscored North Star 8-6 for a stretch of three or four minutes of clock once they finally broke the opening drought.
Gasvoda's 12-footer on the baseline opened the third period and Lainey Terry next drove the lane for a layup after receiving Mattie Gasvoda's inbounds pass. Another bucket from down on the baseline by Terry completed the scoring for the Pioneers early in that quarter.
It remained all North Star the rest of the way as Shayla Borlaug led the Knights with 21 points.
Amy Gasvoda has led the Pioneers in scoring in the last four or five contests, Jerrel said, and is one of a host of sophomores, freshmen and eighth graders taking their lumps in hopes of better years ahead.
"It's a little tough for us right now," he said. "We're still young, still getting used to the speed of the game."
The Pioneers are scheduled to travel Friday to Turner and tip off at 6 p.m. at home Saturday against Hays-Lodgepole to conclude the regular season. The District 9C tournament is slated to tip off Tuesday, Feb. 16 at the campuses of higher-seeded teams.
