The quest for the first conference win of the season continued Tuesday night as the Lady Pioneers would head south to White County to take on the Lady Lions and Lions of Searcy.
In the opener, both teams would have the same goal on their mind, that illustrious first conference win and from the opening tip they both came out swinging. The Lady Pioneers would strike quickly throughout the quarter behind eight points from senior Taylor Rush and would lead the Lady Lions by five at the first break. The scoring pace of the Lady Pioneers would slow in the second as the Lady Lions turned up the pressure and would close the Batesville lead to three by halftime. After some changes in the locker room, the Lady Pioneers would reignite their offense in the third and fourth quarter ultimately pulling away and capturing the victory by a final of 56 to 44.
Senior Taylor Rush would once again lead Batesville in scoring racking up 22 points and she would be joined in double digits by returning senior Zharia Childress with 12. Rounding out the scoring for Batesville was junior Abby Hurley with eight, senior Emily Harrison with seven, senior Anna Clair Ezell with five, and senior Olivia Everetts with two.
In the nightcap, the Pioneers would open the ballgame called from the field with Searcy taking advantage and building an early 14 to 5 lead at the end of the first quarter. The offense would start to get rolling in the second behind six points from junior Jeremiah Strickland, but the Lions would get hot from the field seeing one player hit four three-pointers in the frame and putting up an astounding 25 points leading them to a 39 to 20 halftime lead. In the second half, the scoring woes would strike again for the Pioneers as the Lions would cruise to their second conference win of the season 71 to 26.
Two seniors would lead the way in scoring for the Pioneers as Logan McSpadden and JT Morgan would account for nine points, Strickland would chip in eight, sophomore Braxton Davis would follow with five points, juniors Kaleb Young and Cory Cothrine would add two points and junior Mason Evans would add a point as well.
The Lady Pioneers and Pioneers now return to Pioneer Gymnasium to complete the first cycle of conference play hosting the Lady Blue Devils and Blue Devils of West Memphis Friday night. Senior girls action will tip off around 6 p.m. with the senior boys to follow and can be heard on 93 KZLE, online at WhiteRiverNow.com, and on the White River Now mobile app.
Article by Wes Gwaltney, The Voice of Pioneer Basketball, 93 KZLE
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