Alex Worrell
Eva Yeadon
Jai Baumann
The Lady Pioneers struggled a bit this last weekend against CJI and DGSG. The first game against the Lady Hawks started rough with 12 fouls (total) and the Lady Pioneers having 8 turnovers in the 1st quarter. They lost by 11 points with a final score of 48-59.
They then played the Lady Bearcats This game was aggressive from the get-go, with the refs letting them get after it; it was a very scrappy back-and-forth game, but with Junior leader Eva Yeadon getting 3 fouls in the 1st quarter, the Lady Pioneers had to find other ways to score against a very tough defensive team.
In the CJI game, the Lady Hawks came out strong from the beginning, causing the Lady Pioneers to have a hard time handling the ball; the Lady Pioneers had 8 turnovers in the 1st quarter but did get some positive moments from Keria Galbavy with 2 rebounds, 1 block, and 1 steal. The Lady Pioneers also had 2 steals from Jai Baumann and a nice pass from Jai to Jenny Sany for a fast break layup. Other than that, the quarter was all dominated by CJI, going up by 13 points. At the end of the quarter, the score was Lady Pioneers 3 to Lady Hawks 16.
The Pioneers tripled their points in the 2nd quarter but still had a hard time shutting down CJI, who also doubled their points. Eva had 3 buckets and 6 points, Keira had 2 buckets and 4 points, and Jai had a take and 2 points to take the Lady Pioneers into halftime down 15 with a score of 16-31.
The Lady Pioneers came out of halftime with something to prove and had a great steal from Lainey Terry, a great take with an AND1 from Eva, and a steal by Jenny. Alex Worrall also had a nice rebound and put-back for the Lady Pioneers, but the Lady Hawks were spot-on with their shots and had an amazing free throw percentage. Despite the effort the ladies put into the start of the 2nd half, they went into the last quarter down by 16 points with a score of 31-47.
The last stanza was all fouls, with a total of 16 fouls being called, and for those of you who aren't sure what that means, that's an average of 1 foul every 30 seconds for the entire quarter. The Lady Pioneers did come within 9 points with some great plays by Keira, Eva, and Alex. But unfortunately, they fell short and lost by 11 points with a final score of 48-59.
The Lady Pioneers then turned around and played Denton, Geyser, Stanford, and Geraldine (DGSG), and also lost that game by a bigger margin. The Lady Pioneers struggled from the free throw line and needed to take care of the ball, having 25 turnovers. They also struggled from the floor, shooting just 26% as a team from the floor.
The Lady Pioneers were outscored 23-8 in the 1st two quarters and went into halftime down 21 points after a DGSG 3-pointer at the buzzer with a score of 13-34.
The 2nd half was a bit better for the Lady Pioneers, only being outscored by 10 points, but they couldn't find the rhythm or momentum to catch up. The Lady Pioneers did have some highlights from Alex, with several hustle plays to save the ball, great rebounds, and some nice buckets. Keira also contributed with 9 boards. Eva had 8 boards and 15 points, and Jenny Sant had 4 steals. Jai contributed with 9 points as well. Unfortunately, the Lady Pioneers lost by 24 points with a score of 37-61.
Travis Baumann added, "It was a rough weekend for the Lady Pioneers with back-to-back losses to CJI and DGSG. We hope to get back on track this next week with an away game in Hays on Friday and a home game vs. North Star on Saturday.
