It's one of my favorite times of the year, yes, Christmas time, but also the start of basketball season! The Pioneers had their first games this past weekend, but like in past years, I will only be writing up Varsity games, and this past weekend, only the Lady Pioneers played against Winifred. So this article will be about their game.
The referees set the tone with fouls from the get-go, with Keira Galbavy picking up her first right away, but a block from Keira also followed that. Both teams took a bit to get going in the sense of taking care of the ball, with 5 turnovers in the first couple mins. Winifred scored on a couple of early baskets with a couple of nice give-and-go's. Putting them in the lead 4-0. Eva Yeadon had a nice pass to Kenzie Kallenburger to Keira for a nice bucket. Great team rebounds on both sides of the ball, with Winifred getting a couple of points off their rebounds. The Pioneers had some great steals from Jenny Sant and a nice high-low bucket from Keira to Eva. Winifred did a great job at cutting to the basket and seeing the open man, but the Lady Pioneers hung in there to finish the quarter off down by 6 with a score of 9-15.
The 2nd quarter was all about rebounds and fouls to start off with from both teams. Keira, Eva, Brianna Terry, and Elaina Weaver got on the boards. Eva and Jai Baumann both had a steal, and the Lady Pioneers got a score from Eva. The Lady Pioneers were outscored 8-4 in the 2nd quarter, going into the half with a score of 13-23.
The Lay Pioneers came out a different team in the 3rd quarter. They had some great stops on defense, finished on some nice buckets, and pulled within 2 points with scores from Eva and Keira. The Lady Pioneers also had some great passes from Kenzie and Jai. After a couple of Big Sandy turnovers, Winifred went on a 9-1 run while hitting some big 3-pointers before going into the last quarter. The Lady Pioneers were down by 10 to end the quarter with a score of 24-34.
Once again, the Lady Pioneers worked hard to get back into the game, and Eva made some great plays to help the Lady Pioneers offensively. Keira and Jai also had some great offensive plays. The Lady Pioneers also had some great steals from Jai and Eva, which helped them pull within 4 points. The Lady Pioneers hit a 3-pointer that would've got them within one point, but it was waved off by the refs, saying it was a travel, and the ball went back to Winifred, who in turn scored a couple of 3-pointers and pulled away with just not enough time on the clock for the Lady Pioneers to come back. The Lady Pioneers lost by 11 points with a final score of 39-50.
Team Stats: Free throws: 14/32, Steals: 16, Rebounds: 28, Assists: 5, and Turnovers: 15.
Coach Travis had this to say: "While the outcome of the game wasn't what we were hoping for, Winifred was a very good test for us. We caused 23 turnovers and had a 66% assist in field goals. We were led in scoring by Eva Yeadon with 26 points, followed by Keira Galbavy with 5 and Jai Baumann with 4. Yeadon led the team with 9 rebounds, followed by Baumann with 8, and Galbavy with 4. Kenzie Kallenberger led the team with 3 assists, Galbavy with 2, and Jenny Sant, Baumann, and Yeadon with one. Jenny Sant led the team with 6 steals, followed by Yeadon with 5 and Baumann with 4. The boys' and girls' JV teams are playing in Rudyard and Chester in a pre-season tournament next weekend. Followed by games in Cascade and Turner the following weekend."
