Pioneer 18/734

Strycker scores 11, McKaig 10, but Lewis Cass wins

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

ROYAL CENTER — Makenna Strycker scored 11 points, and fellow starting guard Mia McKaig added 10, but the Pioneer girls basketball team remained winless after a 44-38 overtime loss to visiting Lewis Cass at The Cage Tuesday.

Hannah Zeigler added eight points, and Kynzie Hathaway had seven for Pioneer, who fell to 0-6.

Mylie Sipe scored 17, and Anna Hedrick had 11 for Lewis Cass, who improved to 5-1.

Lewis Cass scored only 12 points in the final three quarters of regulation, but they scored eight in the four-minute overtime.

Hedrick scored on a short jumper on an inbounds play, and Aftin Griffin’s driving scoop layup as part of a 3-point play gave Lewis Cass a 41-36 lead with 1:56 left.

Strycker scored on a putback for Pioneer, but Laney Davis made it 42-38 when she split a pair of free throws with 58.5 seconds left, and she completed the scoring when she jacknifed through four Pioneer players standing on the lane to grab her own missed free throw and put it back in with 18.4 seconds left.

Still, coach David McWherter saw reason for optimism. Zeigler tied her career high with her eight points, and Hathaway set a new career high with her seven.

“I love that,” McWherter said of the scoring balance. “If we can get more than just Makenna scoring, we’re going to be in good shape. Obviously, offense has been a big problem for us and getting stops here and there. … I told the girls last night (at practice) we’ve got to respect them, but we got to make sure at the end of the night that they respect us, and I think they did that tonight.”

Pioneer trailed by 16 points after one quarter but came back to eventually take their first lead at 32-30 on Zeigler’s short jumper in the lane with 7:32 left in regulation.

“We made one or two mistakes defensively that could have made the difference in the game, but we played with a lot of heart and character,” McWherter said. “You’ve got to be proud of those six girls I got in the game tonight. I didn’t get everybody in, but they sure played awfully hard.”

And with Pioneer trailing 33-32, it was Strycker who fed Hathaway, who muscled home the go-ahead layup with 1:47 left.

Hedrick buried a 3-pointer with 1:24 to put Lewis Cass back ahead 36-34. But after McWherter called timeout with 1:11 left, it was Julia McGrew, who had not scored in the game, who hit a pullup jumper in the lane with 55 seconds left.

McGrew committed a foul with 0.6 seconds left – Lewis Cass was not in the bonus – and both teams then called timeout before McKaig deflected an inbounds pass directed toward the basket as time expired.

“I feel really proud of my team,” Strycker, a Wittenberg University commit, said. “We definitely played the best game that we’ve played so far this season, and I think everybody gave 100% that they could. … We didn’t panic. We just settled down, and everybody did their role and played good defense. Nobody was really making silly mistakes, and it just fell together well.”

Sipe and Hedrick combined for four 3-pointers in the first quarter, and they scored all the points in a 16-2 run to close out the first quarter.

At that point, Pioneer clipped Lewis Cass’ wings. The Lady Kings had four field goals and 10 turnovers in the next three quarters.

“The first quarter, we were able to hit some outside shots,” Lewis Cass coach Kyle Amor said. “We got small 5-1, 5-2 guards, and their zone, they move well. It’s well-coached. I know Dave coached against Basil Mawbey for many years, so he’s got a very disciplined zone, and they move very well, and they took away things that we try to get to. We try to get to the high post. We try to get to the short corner. And I thought they did an excellent job rotating. They’re long. They’re just a longer team than really we’ve seen at all the positions. It wasn’t just that they had one big. … They’re just longer than us at every position. They did a nice job of closing out on my shooters and taking away shots that we normally got.”

The lead was down to 26-18 at halftime, and when Strycker made two free throws with 2:12 left in the third quarter, the game was tied at 27.

A Sipe putback and 3-point play put Lewis Cass ahead, but McKaig dropped in a 3 from the right wing with 1:30 left to tie it again at 30.

Lewis Cass 44, Pioneer 38 (OT)

LEWIS CASS (44) (5-1)

Ava Hubner 0 0-0 0, Anna Hedrick 4 0-0 11, Aftin Griffin 2 1-1 5, Kylie Logan 2 1-2 5, Mylie Sipe 7 1-1 17, Laney Davis 1 2-6 4, Hope Rush 1 0-0 2

TEAM: 17 5-10 44

PIONEER (38) (0-6)

Makenna Strycker 4 3-6 11, Avery Haselby 0 0-0 0, Mia McKaig 3 2-2 10, Kynzie Hathaway 3 1-2 7, Hannah Zeigler 4 0-1 8, Julia McGrew 1 0-0 2

TEAM: 15 6-11 38

Three-point field goals:

Lewis Cass 5 (Hedrick 3, Sipe 2),

Pioneer 2 (McKaig 2)

Total fouls: Lewis Cass 14, Pioneer 12

Fouled out: Logan (LC), 2:55, fourth

Turnovers: Lewis Cass 14, Pioneer 14

Score by quarters

Lewis Cass 24 2 4 6 8 – 44