The Pioneers split this past weekend with a win in Hays by 4 points and a final score of 44-40. Then the Pioneers played North Star the next night and battled hard but ended up losing by 24 points with a score of 67-43.
Rhett Simonton said, "This week, we had some good moments and some learning points that will come with more experience, and hopefully, we can catch our stride at the right time going into tournaments."
The Pioneers had great ball movement from the get-go and went up the first quarter by 6 points, scoring 14-8. The Thunderbirds had some great comebacks, but the Pioneers stayed strong and executed great plays. The Thunderbirds came within 4 points and outscored the Pioneers by 1 point in the 2nd quarter, but the Pioneers still went into halftime up 5 points with a score of 23-18.
The second half started intense and never stopped, with great back-and-forth play from both teams. Both teams battled on the boards and pushed the ball up the floor. The Thunderbirds took the lead briefly by 1 point, but the Pioneers had some big buckets at crucial times. Even though the Thunderbirds outscored the Pioneers by 4 in the 3rd quarter, the Pioneers still went up into the last stanza up by one point with a score of 36-35.
In the last quarter, there were a lot of free throws, which slowed down the pace of the game. The Thunderbirds took the lead again, but with less than 2 minutes left on the game clock, Aidan Morsette hit a big 3-pointer, putting the Pioneers back up on top by 2 points. The Thunderbirds had a couple of chances to score on free throws but missed, and the Pioneers ended up scoring one more bucket and putting them on top by 4 points at the end of the game. The final score was 44-40.
Aidan Morsette was the high scorer with 14 points, and Ryder Galbavy had 12 points. The Pioneers were plagued with turnovers and ended up with 29 of them. But the Pioneers also had nine steals and nine assists. Karter Jurenka had the most rebounds with 10.
The Pioneers then turned around and played a tough North Star team. The Knights jumped on the Pioneers early, but the Pioneers calmed themselves and came back with some aggressive takes and great makes on offense. The Pioneers went up by 6 points in the 1st quarter, going into the 2nd quarter with a score of 18-12.
The Pioneers struggled from the free-throw line, only shooting 5-15 as a team, which allowed North Star to get back in the game. The Knights outscored the Pioneers 14-5 in the 2nd quarter and took the lead going into halftime. The Pioneers were down by 3 with a score of 23-26.
The 3rd quarter was all North Star. The Knights went on a 17-0, outscoring the Pioneers 34-11, and the Pioneers ended up having a hard time coming back from the deficit. The Pioneers lost by 24 points and only scored 9 points in the last quarter. The final score was 43-67.
Eyon Sherburn had a great game for the Pioneers with nine rebounds and 10 points. Jaesun YIrsa had 9 points, and Ryder Galbavy had 8 and 5 rebounds. Aidan Morsette and Karter Jurenka had 6 points, and Karter also had 7 rebounds.
The Pioneers also have two games left before Districts, facing off against Fort Benton in Fort Benton on Friday and then in Big Sandy on Saturday.
