The Lady Pioneers started the season off strong, with great plays coming from Jai Baumann, Eva Wagoner, and Eva Yeadon. The Big Sandy girls started in a full-court press and played fast-paced basketball. DGS also started in a press, which Big Sandy quickly broke down, but they struggled with some quick decisions that led to turnovers, in which DGS got an early lead on the Lady Pioneers. Angie Sant and Lainey Terry had some great moves to the basket and a couple of defensive stops, leading to an Eva Yeadon 3-pointer to take the lead with 1:30 to go in the 1st quarter. The Lady Pioneers went into the 2nd quarter up on DGS Bearcats 17-12.
The girls started with some good ball movement in the 2nd quarter. DGS had a strong push to cut the lead, but Eva Wagoner got a fast break layup and finished with a foul shot and one. The Lady Pioneers got a great defensive stop followed by a great drive from Jai Baumann to go up 22-18. DGS caused Big Sandy some unforced errors and took charge to try and get some momentum. DGS headed to the free-throw line to put them within one point. Big Sandy then had a great defensive stop and a nice shot by Eva Wagoner to put Big Sandy back up by 3. DGS scored an easy bucket from an out-of-bounds play and pulled within 1 again. The 2nd quarter ended with Eva Wagoner putting the Pioneers up 26-23.
The 2nd half started in a battle. Back-and-forth rebounds, back-and-forth buckets, back-and-forth turnovers. Both teams were running the floor and working hard. Both teams showing grit. After a big quarter from Eva Yeadon, some nice drives by Jai Baumann, and some fast breaks from Eva Wagoner, the Pioneers went up 40-32 at the end of the 3rd quarter.
The 3rd and 4th quarters were huge for 3-pointers for DGS; in fact, Decker made seven 3-point shots in the game. Again, the girls battled for the ball on both ends of the floor. Kiera Galbavy had a big 3-pointer to put the Pioneers up 46-40 with less than 4 mins to go in the game. Back-and-forth fouls put both teams at the free-throw line. DGS hit a big 3-pointer with 1:30 left to go in the game. After some missed layups and missed rebounds from both teams, the end of regulation ended at 48-48.
Overtime started with some missed opportunities for rebounds and some putbacks. DGS came out with some great ball movement on offense and hitting a 3 to take the lead 51-48 with 2:30 left to play. Jai Bauman hit crucial free throws to put the Pioneers back within reach. A big stop with a shot clock violation from DGS gave the Lady Pioneers another opportunity to win the game. Big Sandy fell short in the last few seconds of the game, losing to DGS by 3 with a final score of 52-55.
Coach Travis said, "It was a great test for us. We had nerves at first, then settled down and started to play. Once we get into better shape, we will be better. We got tired and lazy with our feet and started getting silly fouls. The one girl killed us from the outside, and nobody stepped out on her to take that away. It is okay; we will be better with that the next time."
Stats for the game: Eva Wagoner made 22 points, Eva Yeadon made 13 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists. Jai Bauman had 8 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 steals. Keira Galbavy had 4 points and 6 rebounds, Angie Sant had 3 points, and Lainey Terry, before going out of the game because of injury, had 2 points. The Lady Pioneers shot 68% from the free-throw line.
