The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

With the high hopes of moving on, the Lady Pioneers fall just short, losing in a close contest against the Lady Sugarbeeters on Thursday afternoon. The first quarter of play was back and forth, exchanging baskets with high-intensity basketball from both teams. Big Sandy won the first quarter 7-6. The second quarter started a little slow for the Lady Pioneers, letting the Beeters come out with a quick 5-0 run and allowing the momentum to shift in favor of the Sugarbeeters, ending the first half of play 21-14. As the story usually goes, the Lady Pioneers came out slow in the third quarter but so did the Lady Sugarbeeters ending the 3rd quarter 40-32, still leading by 8 points. With 5 minutes to go in the 4th quarter and now down by 10, the Lady Pioneers began to claw back in the game. A 3 from Yeadon, followed by a layup and free throw, cut the Chinook lead to only 4 points. Both teams had their chances at the free-throw line. Keira Galbavy made a big basket cutting the deficit to 50-47 with less than a minute to go. It was a fight to the finish, and the Sugarbeeter pulled out the victory. Junior Eva Wagoner led the Lady Pioneers with 18 points, followed by Freshman Eva Yeadon with 16 points. Both girls were clutch from the free-throw line while Eva Wagoner went 9-11 and Eva Yeadon was 7-9. Angie Sant was also 100% and went 2-2 from the free-throw line.

Friday morning, the girls returned to the Havre High gym early to take on the CJI Lady Hawks, knowing the winner would move on to Saturday morning and the loser would have to call it a season. The Lady Pioneer started the game slowly; shots were not falling, and it ended up trailing at the end of the first quarter, 16-7. With more of the same sluggish play in the second quarter, Lady Pioneers continued playing catch up and went into halftime down by 10 points with a score of 34-24. The Lady Hawks came out in the 2nd half-carrying that same momentum as the first half, while the Lady Pioneer struggled to find their stride and ended their season with a 64-48 loss to the Lady Hawks. Eva Yeadon led the Lady Pioneers with 18 points and 13 rebounds, Jai Baumann with 12, Eva Wagoner with 9, Lainey Terry with 8, and Keira with a free throw.

The Lady Pioneers did not finish the way they had hoped to, but they continued to improve with every game they played. I can say with 100% certainty there will be great success in this young team’s future. Every defeat, every loss, and heartbreak contained valuable lessons on how to get better. These girls may be done this year, but they will be back next year, ready to compete! Congratulation on a great season Lady Pioneers. You have so much to be proud of!