The Mountaineer didn't have room to publish the results of the last basketball games in the Christmas edition, so we present a brief rundown of the games here. Against DGSG, the Big Sandy Varsity Girls lost 61-69, and the Big Sandy Varsity Boys lost 51-56. In those games, Lane Demontiney was the top scorer for both teams with 28 points, but DGSG had every player score but one. Eyon Sherburn scored 10, and Ryder Galbavy 8. In the girl's game, Eva Yeadon had 30 points, Keira Galbavy 12, Alex Worral 10,
On December 22, the Lady Pioneers beat CJI, ranked number one in the District. The final score was 55-50.
The Lady Pioneers came out strong in the first quarter and went up quickly with a score of 12-4, but CJI put on a 6-0 run and closed the gap to only go down by two going into the 2nd quarter. Eva Yeadon had 10 of the Lady Pioneers' 12 points. The Lady Pioneers outscored the Lady Hawks in the second quarter as well with a score of 18-14, putting the Lady Pioneers up at halftime with a score of 30-24. Jai Baumann stepped up big in the 2nd quarter and put 8 points on the board, and another eight from Eva, including a bucket right before the buzzer to go into halftime. Keira Galbavy was the other Lady Pioneer, with points on the board and four going into halftime.
The Lady Pioneers started a little slower in the 2nd half; both teams did. The Lady Pioneers still outscored them in the 3rd quarter and went into the last stanza still up by 39-32, with Eva being the only Lady Pioneer with points on the board in the 3rd quarter with all 9 of their 3rd quarter points.
Jai Baumann had another great game, with her passing having five assists. Eva also started the 4th quarter with a big 3-pointer and a steal for a fast-break lay-up to give the Lady Pioneers some momentum going into the last stanza. CJI did outscore the Lady Pioneers in the last quarter, but The Lady Pioneers did not give up and finished the game strong, even with a close finish. The Lady Pioneers pulled away with a win with a final score of 55-50. Eva Yeadon had a big game for the Lady Pioneers, shooting 70% from the floor with 14-20 on the two-point range and 80% from the 3-point range with 4-5, ending the game with 34 points. Jai Baumann also had a good game and finished with 13 of the Lady Pioneer points, and the other player to score for the Lady Pioneers was Keira Galbavy with 8 points. As a team, they had 18 rebounds and nine steals.
The Pioneers also played CJI on December 22 and lost by 22. Still, the Pioneers showed significant improvement and were in the lead the whole game until late in the 3rd quarter when CJI took over.
The Pioneers had a big 1st quarter, putting 17 points on the board, with a Lane Demontiney 3-pointer at the buzzer. CJI tried to close the gap and had a bit of a run, but the Pioneers stayed on top and went into halftime up 8 points with a score of 34-26.
The Hawks came out with something to prove in the second half and added the pressure to the Pioneers, causing some crucial turnovers and allowing the Hawks to get back into the game. CJI took the lead with about 4 minutes left in the 3rd quartet with a score of 34-37.
The Pioneers struggled to get back into the game and lost by 22 points with a score of 51-73. Lane Demontiney had 15 points and seven defensive rebounds, Eyon Shurburn had 13 points, and Ryder and Kater had eight points.
The next basketball games will be in Big Sandy on January 4, starting at 3:00 with the JV teams. Big Sandy will travel to Rudyard on Saturday, with games beginning at 12:00.
