Pioneers cage Cougars
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

TAYLORSVILLE — Watauga girls’ basketball coach Klay Anderson has preached that 11 players can band together to beat one or two.

That proved to be just how visiting Watauga beat Alexander Central 53-42 Tuesday night. Watauga had three players score in double figures and another finish just shy of it.

Watauga won its third straight game after starting the Northwestern 4-A Conference season with nine straight losses.

“It was a great basketball game tonight,” Anderson said. “We beat a quality team in Alexander. They haven’t won a conference game, but they were hungry tonight. They played extremely hard, and for us to get this win on the road — tonight was a great win for our girls.”

Alexander Central relied on two players, Amanda Jones and Bianca Johnson, to score 30 of its 42 points.

Jones finished with 20 points, while Johnson had 10.

Watauga’s balance proved to be too much for Alexander Central. Post player Emily Pineda led the Pioneers with 13 points. She was followed by Ashlyn Baird and Rebekah Pineda, who each had 10 points. Sarah Caldwell hit three 3-pointers and finished with nine points.

Baird hit two 3-point shots, while Ryann Jones hit another, giving the Pioneers six 3-point baskets in the game.

Anderson was happy that the post players were involved in the scoring to give the Pioneers balance.

“We shot 16 or 17 threes all game and we made six of them, which was nice,” Anderson said. “But when we don’t have the Pinedas involved and when we don’t have Nicole (Tesh) or Katherine (Mayhew) involved, it hurts us because we’re a one-dimensional and that’s not us. Once we got into transitional game, that’s when I liked our chances.”

It also helped that Alexander Central suddenly went cold at the end of the game. The Cougars, tied 38-38 with the Pioneers, got a layup from Kristin Morris with 4:35 left in the fourth quarter to give the Cougars a 40-38 lead.

Those would be the last points Alexander Central would score until there were 32.4 seconds left in the game. Watauga tied the game with an Emily Pineda stickback, and took a 42-40 lead on two Pineda foul shots.

It was all Watauga from that point. Alexander Central turned the ball over four times and went 0-for-9 from the fielduntil a Kee’aura Linney basket snapped a 13-0 Watauga run. By then, the Pioneers built their 53-42 lead that would stand.

Watauga helped itself from the foul line, hitting 7-of-11 free throws. Baird hit all four of her late-fourth quarter attempts, which gave the Pioneers a 53-40 lead. Watauga hit 11-of-16 foul shots in the game, compared to 3-of-6 by Alexander Central.

Even when the Pioneers did not convert, Alexander Central did not benefit. When Emily Pineda did not convert a three-point opportunity by missing a foul shot, she simply grabbed the offensive rebound, put the ball in the basket, and turned it into a four-point possession.

By the time the Pioneers were finished, they had outscored Alexander Central 21-8 in the fourth quarter.

“It’s a team effort by all 11 of them,” Anderson said. “They really bye into the fact that a team of 11 can beat a team of three, four, five or six any day. That’s not meant to be derogatory to any other team, but not a lot of teams play 11 players and play them as long as we do. They’re buying into enjoying playing with each other and when you’re playing with confidence, you never know how far you can go.”

Watauga turns its attention to the Northwestern 4-A Conference Tournament. The Pioneers could play South Caldwell, East Burke or A.C. Reynolds in the first round, depending on how the games finish Friday night.

Watauga 53, Alexander Central 42
Watauga
Butler 0 0-2 0, Caldwell 3 0-2 9, Baird 2 4-4 10, Creed 1 0-0 2, Tesh 2 0-0 4, Jones 1 0-1 3, Rees 1 0-0 2, E.. Pineda 4 5-7 13, R. Pineda 4 2-2 10, Miller 0 0-0 0, Mayhew 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 11-16 53.
Alexander Central
Chapman 1 0-0 2, Morris 2 0-0 4, Linney 3 0-2 6, Jones 8 3-4 20, Johnson 5 0-0 10, Brown 0 0-0 0, Looper 0 0-0 0, Crisp 0 0-0 0, Barnes 0 0-0 0, Ikerd 0 0-0 0, Price 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 3-6 42.
Watauga 11 12 9 21 — 53
Alexander Central 14 9 11 8 — 42
3-point goals—Watauga 6 (Caldwell 3, Baird 2, Jones), Alexander Central 1 (Jones). Total fouls—Watauga 8, Alexander Central 18. Fouled out—None. Technical fouls—None.