The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

The Big Sandy Pioneer girls and boys basketball teams traveled to Hays Saturday as they began 2016 with a District 9C clash.

The girls and boys teams, both under the tutelage of head coach Ronnie Simpson, have competed hard start to finish, night in, night out. However finding the win column has been difficult in recent years.

Both teams finished 2015 with identical 0-3 conference marks and 0-5 overall records but things are bound to turnaround at some point.

The Pioneer girls are young and energetic and have shown an ability to compete and a will to win despite adversity.

Saturday they played a Hays/Lodge Pole team hungry for the same thing, a taste of victory.

Big Sandy took a narrow 10-8 lead after eight minutes of action. Sophomore Andrea Rutledge connected for four points in the opening stanza while senior Maddy Reichelt, sophomore Jessica Roth and sophomore Jaylyn Cline each contributed a basket of their own.

In a back and forth contest the girls were able to extend their lead in the second quarter as Roth knocked down a three point bucket and sophomore Jenna Leader and eighth grader Cassidy Belcourt each scored to help the Pioneers take a 17-13 lead into halftime.

Leader scored six more in the third quarter to help Big Sandy push the lead to six, 27-21 with eight minutes left in the contest.

The Thunderbirds weren't going down with out a fight as they trimmed the Pioneer lead to three. Leader scored four points in the final stanza and sophomore Dakota Terry dropped in a basket to help the Pioneers earn a hard fought and well deserved 34-31 win.

Leader paced the Pioneer offence with 12 points in the win, ten of which came in the second half.

Sophomore Jenna Leader (1) scores two of her game high 12 points in Big Sandy's 34-31 win over Hays/Lodge Pole Saturday.

Roth finished with points, all coming in the first half. Rutledge finished with four. Sophomore Cally Demontiney, Terry, Belcourt and Reichelt each recorded two points.

The win is a big one for the girls as it ends a two year drought and gives the team confidence moving forward.

The boys are an even younger bunch relying on eighth graders to fill out a varsity roster, but like the girls they play hard from start to finish.

The Thunderbirds finished second in the District a season ago and return the bulk of their roster from a team that won a game at the Northern C.

The boys made the Thunderbirds work but their depth was too much for Big Sandy to overcome in a 77-18 loss.

The Pioneers will continue District play this weekend as they will head to Chester Friday to take on the Hawks. Saturday the team will be at home to take on the Box Elder Bears.