Pioneer women take

Senior Night win
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

Suddenly, Watauga’s girls’ basketball team is the group nobody in the Northwestern 4-A Conference wants to play.

The Pioneers, who struggled through the first part of their NWC season with just one win, made it two straight in the second half of league play with a 63-52 victory over East Burke at Lentz-Eggers Gym Friday night, which was also Senior Night.

Watauga, which beat A.C. Reynolds last Tuesday, beat East Burke for the first time since 1998. It was also the first time the Pioneers beat the Cavaliers at Lentz-Eggers since 1997.

The Pioneers beat the Cavaliers by not letting them score during the four crucial minutes in the game’s fourth quarter. After East Burke tied the game at 46-46, the Cavaliers missed five straight shots and turned the ball over four other times.

That allowed Watauga to bury the Cavaliers with a 15-0 run. The Pioneers made 12-of-15 free throws in the fourth period, including 5-of-7 by Ashlyn Baird, who hit 8-of-10 in the game and finished with 13 points.

It didn’t look like the Pioneers would be within range of the Cavaliers by halftime. East Burke claimed a 12-4 lead by the end of the first quarter and led 24-13 midway through the second quarter following a 3-point basket by Elizabeth Ross.

But Watauga found a spark after an East Burke turnover, one of 17 the Cavaliers would commit, with around three minutes left in the half. Emily Pineda started Watauga’s quarter-ending 10-1 run with an inside basket.

It was followed by a Baird 3-point bucket and two foul shots from Pineda set up by her steal. A three-point play by Pineda gave her seven of the Pioneers final 10 points of the half and brought them to within 25-23 at halftime.

Sarah Caldwell, who about five hours before had signed a letter of intent to play soccer at Furman, drained a 3-point shot and then a 2-pointer to give Watauga a 40-39 lead with 3:01 left in the third quarter. It was 42-40 when Nicole Tesh hit a layup off a Christina Rees steal to give the Pioneers a 44-42 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Tesh finished with 15 points, while Pineda scored 13. Caldwell added seven.

Ross led the Cavaliers with 12 points, followed by 10 points from Olivia Childers. Madylyne Ross scored eight more points, including six on two 3-point buckets in the game’s final minute.

Watauga closes out the regular season with a game at Alexander Central.

Watauga 63, East Burke 52
East Burke
E. Ross 3 5-8 12, Baker 1 3-4 5, Childers 2 6-8 10, Lewis 3 0-2 6, Merony 0 0-0 0, P. Moore 1 2-2 4, Yancy 1 2-2 4, Connelly 0 0-1 0, M. Ross 2 2-2 8, Efird 1 3-4 5, Grady 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 21-33 52.
Watauga
Butler 1 0-0 3, Caldwell 2 2-2 7, Baird 2 8-10 13, R. Pineda 1 3-3 5, Creed 1 1-2 3, Tesh 7 1-1 15, Jones 0 0-0 0, E. Pineda 4 5-7 13, Mayhew 0 2-3 2, Rees 1 0-0 2, Miller 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 22-28 63.
East Burke 12 13 17 10 — 52
Watauga 4 19 21 19 — 63
3-point goals—East Burke 3 (M. Ross 2, E. Ross), Watauga 3 (Butler, Caldwell, Baird). Turnovers—East Burke 18, Watauga 17. Total fouls—East Burke 17, Watauga 18. Fouled out—None. Technical fouls—Childers.