Report by Chris Vines
It was a back and forth affair again between the Lady Southerners and the Lady Pioneers in the District Championship Saturday night with a strong third-quarter propelling the Pioneers to a 52-44 win.
The Lady Pioneers will be the number one seed in the Regional Tournament at Valley View and the Lady Southerners will take the number two seed.
The Southerners started slowly only scoring five points in the opening quarter to trail 10-5.
They got hot in the second quarter behind London Cuzzort’s seven points and tied the score at 18 going into the break.
The third quarter fell Batesville’s way with Izzy Higginbottom hitting for eight and Riley Freeman hitting two, three-pointers to give Batesville a 37-29 edge.
Batesville wrapped it up at the end hitting free throws.
The Lady Pioneers went 13/19 from the line on the night, the Lady Southerners were 7/8.
The loss drops the Southerners to 22-5 on the season and will face Stuttgart in the Regionals Thursday night at 7 p.m. in Valley View.
London Cuzzort led the Southerners in scoring with 20 points and Brett Gardner chipped in 10.
