Pioneers race into 9C semifinals

The Big Sandy Pioneers may not have entered the postseason as a top seed, but after the first round of girls 9C action, the Pioneers proved they will be a contender for the district title before the weekend is over.

Wednesday night the Pioneers (12-7) handled Turner (1-18) with ease, earning a 66-25 win in the opening round of the District 9C tournament in Havre. With the dominating performance, the Pioneers will advance to tonight's semifinal game against No. 2 North Star at 6. The Tornadoes drop into a loser-out game on Friday at 1 p.m.

Big Sandy's Shelby Gasvoda, left, looks to make a move during a District 9C girls tournament game Wednesday night at the Havre High gymnasium. The Pioneers will take on North Star in tonight's semifinals.

"Turner is a tough team and never gives up," Big Sandy head coach Serena Cator said." They are always aggressive and we really had a hard time with them at first, but the girls pulled it out and that was really good. The top two seeds get to get in here in practice and none of the rest of us get that. So it is good to get on the floor for a game and get a win before we have to play a tough game in the semifinals."

After the tip, there was never a doubt that the Pioneers were going to beat the Tornadoes. In the first five minutes the Pioneers led 10-3, and in the final four minutes the Pioneers engineered a 10-0 run to take a 20-3 first quarter lead. Big Sandy used its size and scoring ability inside to open things up for the offense, as Leela Engle and Kaylie Gilman scored the first eight points of the game, and combined for 12 points in the opening frame.

From there the flood gates were open, and the Big Sandy scoring came from all over the lineup. The Pioneers outscored the Tornadoes 25-1 in the second frame to put the contest away. Shelby Gasvoda led all scorers with 19, while Gilman added nine, Molly Herron added eight, Kylie Cline added eight and Engle dcored six.

Big Sandy's Molly Herron leads the pack down the floor during Wednesday's 9C girls game in Havre.

Gasvoda came off the bench and had a great shooting night. She shot 8-for-10 from the field, including 2-of-3 from 3-point range. Big Sandy was 29-of-72 from the field as a team.

"I just came out confident and ready to shoot," Gasvoda said. "Yes this was (a good win), we needed patience and we needed to work on our offense."

Turner did score 21 second half points, but the majority came with the Big Sandy bench in the game. The Tornadoes struggled against the Pioneers' defense, committing 28 turnovers and knocking down just 9-of-37 shots from the field.

The Turner offense was paced by Kristina Conlan with eight points, while Laura Pillon finished with seven.

"We have a very young team," Turner head coach Kelly Cederberg said. "We have three eighth-graders. This is good experience for us, especially for those girls. But we need to keep our head up, we are going to work on our passing, but Big Sandy is an excellent defensive team and theyplay tough."

Turner's Ella Billmeyer shoots durng Wednesday's 9C girls tournament game against Big Sandy at the Havre High gymnasium.

Earning a spot in the semifinals, the Pioneers know they now have to play a very tough North Star (14-4) squad. The Knights lost just one game in the second half of the season, coming last Saturday to the Pioneers. Both teams are going to have to play well, and the Pioneers know they have to do all the little things right if they hope to repeat their performance tonight at 6 p.m.

"(Tonight) is a deciding factor for us," Cator said. "We have to show up completely ready and focused and just ready to play. Blocking out and rebounding is huge for us, turnovers are huge for us, and taking high percentage shots is huge for us. If we can do all three of those things I think it will be a great game because North Star is really, really tough."

Big Sandy 66, Turner 25

Turner 3 1 10 11 – 25

Big Sandy 20 25 11 10 – 66

Turner – Ella Billmayer 1, Rennay Watkins 1, Shania Maloney 3, Kristina Conlan 8, Marybeth Baldik 2, Laura Pillon 7, Lynday Hutton 3. Totals: 9-37 4-10 25

Big Sandy – Brooke Leader 4, Molly Herron 8, Leela Engle 6, Kaylie Gilman 9, Cheyenne Johnson 2, Kiah Wilson 2, Abby Gregory 2, Shelby Gasvoda 19, Mateila Cline 2, Michelle Maxwell 4, Kylie Cline 8. Totals: 29-72 4-10 66

Halftime: Big Sandy 45-4. 3-pointers: Turner 3-10 (Conlan 2, Hutton 1), Big Sandy 2-9 (Gasvoda 2). Rebounds: Turner 24 (Maloney 6, Watkins 5), Big Sandy 48 (Gasvoda 7, Leader 6, Maxwell 6). Fouls: 9, Big Sandy 8. Fouled out: None.