The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

Lady Pioneers take 3rd at Divisional, challenging for 2nd and a chance to go to state. Travis Bauman, head coach of the Lady Pioneers, stated, "This team has been battle-tested all year, especially during this postseason run. We have battled sickness and injuries, needing IVs, puking during games, and rallying right back into the game! These girls have more GRIT, heart, and scrappiness than any team I have seen. The injuries are numerous, and the sickness that we have been plagued with this year has been ridiculous, yet here we are in the challenge game Monday night against DGS, the number 2 seed out of the 8C. I am so proud of who these ladies are and what they have shown this community this year! Regardless of Monday night's game, this team has shown our community what a selfless team can accomplish! Monday night will be the 10th tournament game these girls will have played in 12 days!"

"They are warriors; they are the Lady Pioneers!"

Yes, they are. After five games in four days (with another one on Monday), even being plagued with sickness and injury, these ladies proved what hard work, tenacity, and grit look like. These ladies came into Divsionals in 3rd place out of 9C and have fought their way into a challenge game on Monday the 26th, one game away from going to state. These girls are the true definition of perseverance.

The five teams they played starting Wednesday night and going through till Saturday night were Simms, Roy-Winifred, Cascade, Belt, and CJI. They beat Simms 56-37, lost to Roy-Winifred 31-47, beat Cascade 50-36, beat Belt 66-59, then played again 5 hours later, and beat CJI 46-45 in the consolation game. Due to Roy-Winifred beating DGSG, the Lady Pioneers now face off against DGSG on Monday for a chance to go to state.

The Lady Pioneers jumped out early against Simms and had a 14-7 lead after the first quarter. The Lady Pioneers ended the 2nd quarter on an 8-0 run, putting them up by 13 points at halftime with a score of 28-15. The 3rd quarter was like the first two quarters. The Lady Pioneers outscored Simms 20-11, but in the last quarter, Simms returned to get some momentum and outscored the Lady Pioneers by 3 points. Still, the Lady Pioneers' teamwork and ball movement with great passes was too much for Simms to handle. The Lady Pioneers won by 19 points with a score of 56-37.

Travis said that on "Wednesday, we started our first Divisional game since 2009 against the three seed out of the 10C, the Simms Tigers. They are a taller, bigger team, but we jumped on them early with our defense and never let off the gas. It was a great first game for the Lady Pioneers!"

Team Stats:

Eva Yeadon 18 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks

Jai Baumann 9 points, 5 steals, 7 assists

Keira Galbavy 9 points, 5 rebounds, 6 steals, 2 blocks, 4 assists

Jenny Sant 9 points and 3 rebounds

Laney Terry 5 points and 3 assists

Alex Worral 4 points and 3 rebounds

The Lady Pioneers then played the number one seed, Roy-Winifred, and gave it all they had. Let me tell you, it was fun to watch these girls battle. Roy-Winifred has a 6'4 girl who dominates the glass, but these Lady Pioneers did a great job keeping her at bay. At the end of the 1st quarter, the score was tied up at 8 each. In the second quarter, going into halftime, the Lady Pioneers were only down 3 points, and in the 3rd quarter, the Lady Pioneers were down 5 points with a score of 26-31. But those Lady Pioneers came out and worked hard and came within one point in the 4th quarter. Unfortunately the Lady Pioneers didn't score in the last 5 minutes, and Roy-Winifred outscored them 13-1 in the last 5 minutes of the game, forcing the Lady Pioneers into loser out action against Cascade Friday morning.

"On Thursday, we got matched up with perennial powerhouse Winifred, the 1 seed out of the 8C. Very few people gave us a chance in this game; I heard one comment that we would lose by 30 to these ladies. Yet our girls came in ready to play. We gave them all they could handle for 28 minutes! The score was 31-34 with less than 4 minutes to play. Winifred used their experience and great free throw shooting to push that score to 31-47. While it goes down as a loss, our team grew physically and mentally because of that game and came together," Travis Baumann reported.

Team Stats

Eva Yeadon 12 points, 6 rebounds

Keira Galbavy 5 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks

Jai Baumann 4 points, 4 steals, 5 assists

Alex Worral 6 rebounds

The Lady Pioneers then faced off against Cascade, and both teams started a little sluggish, turning the ball over, and having a hard time finding the bottom of the net with their shots. The Lady Pioneers did have some great plays and scored 5 points in the last 7 seconds of the 1st quarter, putting them up 12-7 after the 1st quarter. The Lady Pioneers had a great 2nd quarter, picking up the pace of the game, and Cascade was having difficulty keeping up. The Lady Pioneers went up by 8 points going into halftime with a score of 23-15. Cascade jumped out on the Lady Pioneers to start the 3rd quarter and pulled within 2 points. But the Lady Pioneers were not done fighting and went on a run themselves, and put the lead back up to 8 going into the last stanza. The Lady Pioneers then outscored Cascade 16-10 in the last quarter and won by 14 points with a final score of 50-36.

Travis commented, "Friday at 12:30, we took on Cascade, the 2 seed out of the 8C. I will be honest and say we had a bit of a "hangover" game against Cascade after our tough-fought battle against Winifred the night before, but our defense bailed us out by forcing 24 turnovers."

Team Stats:

Keira Galbavy 17 points, 8 rebounds, 5 steals, 3 blocks

Eva Yeadon 11 points,7 rebounds,

Alex Worral 11 points, 10 rebounds

Jenny Sant 6, 4 rebounds

Jai Baumann 5 points,4 rebounds, 6 steals, 4 assists

The Lady Pioneers then turned around and played Belt, where the Lady Pioneers were up the whole game. The closest Belt got to them was 3 points, with a nice run to end the half. The Lady Pioneers continued to pull ahead and were up 8 points to end the 3rd quarter. Belt did what they could to make a push and did close the gap, but they had an intentional foul and a technical foul all within a minute in the last quarter, and the Lady Pioneers took advantage of that and won by 7 points with a final score of 66-59.

"Saturday at 11:00 AM, we were lined up to battle Belt, the 3 team out of the 8C, who had beat CJI on Thursday night then lost to DGS in the semifinals on Friday night. We jumped on them early and never looked back. We shot over 50% from the field with 18 assists on 23 made field goals for a 78% assist rate! Galbavy came in clutch with 4 blocks in the game. "

Team Stats:

Eva Yeadon: 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals

Jai Baumann: 17 points, 2 assists, and 4 deflections

Jenny Sant: 15 points, 4 rebounds

Keira Galbavy: 11 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 deflections

The Lady Pioneers then went into the consolation game against CJI. The Lady Pioneers looked tired and worn out to start the game, battling sickness and injury, and went down early in the 1st quarter by 11 points with a score of 4-15, but just like they have all year; they found a way to battle back and fight through adversity. They outscored CJI 16-11 in the 2nd quarter but still went into halftime down by 6 with a score of 20-26. The Lady Pioneers then held CJI to just 7 points, while they scored 11 in the 3rd quarter, making it a heck of a game going into the last quarter, only down 2 points with a score of 31-33. The Lady Pioneers won the game in the last minute with some big stops and big shots, going up by one point and pulling away with a victory with a score of 46-45.

Finally, Travis said, "Saturday night, we took on CJI, the 1 seed out of the 9C. It started pretty ugly for the Lady Pioneers, as the score was 15-4 at the end of the 1st quarter. We also started slowly in the 2nd quarter and were down 15 at one point in time, yet these girls battled and got to within 6 at halftime. Girls came in and out of the game exhausted and still had no quit. We played many more girls than we usually do, and every one of them came in and knew their role, and they competed! Describing what happened is very difficult; your best bet is to log into NFHS and watch and listen to the game. These girls balled out and came up big! Big shots, big steals, big passes, and BIG HEART!"

Team Stats:

Jai Baumann: 19 points (including 5 3-pointers), 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 steals

Keira Galbavy: 11 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 steals

Eva Yeadon: 9 points and 3 rebounds

Alex Worrall: 7 points and 7 rebounds