Lady Pioneers win another section game, 65-8
COAL CENTER — Another week, another section win for the West Greene girls basketball squad.
Over the last four seasons, the Lady Pioneers have utterly dominated Section 2-A foes and that did not change on Tuesday night.
West Greene scored 32 points in the opening eight minutes and rolled to a 65-8 victory over California to extend its section winning streak to 29 games.
“So we told them before the game, if we think we are the best team in the section then leave no doubt tonight,” West Greene coach Jordan Watson said. “We came out with a lot of energy and we were really focus. We have a lot of talent and it was a great defensive effort. We also had a lot of balance scoring tonight with 11 kids reaching the scoresheet.”
The win also gave the Lady Pioneers senior class a combined 71 wins over the last four years, tying for the highest win total with the Class of 2000.
In West Greene’s eight section games this year, the Lady Pioneers (8-0, 14-1) have outscored the competition by a 532-152 margin with an average margin of victory of 47.5 points.
Kaitlyn Rizor led the visitors with 20 points and is now 12 points shy of 1,000 career points. Madison Lampe tallied 13 points and McKenna Lampe finished with 12.
Mikayla Boda led the Lady Trojans (5-3, 7-7) with four points.
“We are pretty young and sometimes we can struggle against the press,” Cal coach Chris Niemiec said. “We have to slow it down to run our offense, and when you face that pressure it speeds you up and you make mistakes. It’s tough to overcome their experience.”
The Lady Pioneers jumped out to an early 10-1 lead after back-to-back buckets by Rizor.
After a timeout by the home team, West Greene scored 15 unanswered points before a basket from Boda broke up the scoreless streak for Cal.
The Lady Pioneers scored the final seven points of the opening frame and led 32-3 at the end of one quarter. Eight different players scored for West Greene in the opening eight minutes, led by nine points from Madison Lampe.
“When we get going on offense, we are hard to stop,” Watson said. “Teams can’t throw junk defenses at us because a lot of different people can put the ball in the hoop. We mixed a lot of different lineups in tonight and I think we subbed in 15 girls in the first quarter alone. Those younger kids get those varsity minutes and a good opportunity to play with our seniors.”
West Greene then flexed its defensive muscle in the second quarter and was clicking on all cylinders by outscoring the Lady Trojans, 21-0, to increase its lead to 53-3 at halftime intermission.
“We were really happy with our defense in that second quarter,” Watson said. “When we press, it’s always about communication on the floor. The back girl in the press is like the eyes of the defense for us. She’s like our Troy Polamalu back there. Our girls have their heads on a swivel and our rotations are always moving in the right direction.”
With the mercy rule and running clock in effect and both teams going to their benches in the second half, the Lady Pioneers held a 12-6 scoring edge in the final 16 minutes of play.
Both teams will return to section action on Thursday, as West Greene hosts Jefferson-Morgan and California travels to Geibel Catholic.