The Big Sandy girls could not keep pace with Chinook and Hays-Lodgepole in their first pair of league matchups this season.

In the 9C opener Friday, the Lady Pioneers kept it competitive with the Sugarbeeters but fell 47-34 on the road, led by 13 points from senior Lainey Gregory.

The home opener a night later proved an even tougher challenge.

Hays-Lodgepole employed suffocating defense to force Pioneer turnovers and a devastating deluge of three-pointers out on the perimeter to win 62-14.

"They're tall. They're hard to defend when they have five girls who can go low or high," Lady Pioneers...