Pioneers Pound Blues

Pioneers Pound Blues PM Girls Conclude Season With 20-4 Mark

By Jeremy S. Franklin

Fort Chiswell defeated the Parry McCluer High School girls basketball team 65-34 in the Region 1C semifinals at Virginia Tech’s Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg this past Thursday.

Kara King recorded 25 points, seven rebounds and eight steals as the Pioneers (22-6) ousted the Fighting Blues (20-4) in the regional semifinals for the second straight season. Fort defeated PM 54-50 in the same round at Pulaski County High School last year.

On Thursday, Blair Jackson added 16 points for the Pioneers, the No. 2 seed from the Mountain Empire District, while Lily Goforth finished with nine markers. In the regional championship game on Saturday afternoon, Fort suffered a 50-42 loss to George Wythe (24-2), the top seed from the Mountain Empire District. Both Fort and GW advanced to the Class 1 state tournament.

In the semifinals, Victoria Hamilton and Addisen Roberts tallied 13 points apiece to lead the Pioneer District champion Blues, who saw their 16-game winning streak come to an end. Natalie Mohler chipped in seven markers, and Payton Emore totaled five rebounds and three assists.

The Pioneers zoomed out to a 45-14 halftime lead behind 19 first-half points from King, who scored 13 in the second quarter alone. Fort also limited the Blues to just four made field goals across the opening 16 minutes and forced 28 PM turnovers in the game.

“They were athletic and very physical,” PM head coach Adam Gilbert said about the Pioneers. “They were aggressive on both sides of the basketball.

“They attacked the basket and hit open shots, which made life difficult for us,” he added. “We allowed their defensive pressure to disrupt us offensively.”

Although PM saw its campaign come to a close just one win shy of a state tournament appearance for the second straight year, the Blues have plenty to hang their hats on from 2023-24. PM ran the table in the district, collecting both the Pioneer regularseason and tournament titles en route to another 20-win campaign, following a 22-3 season last year.

“I told them they could absolutely be upset with how we performed against Fort Chiswell – but it should not tarnish their entire body of work,” Gilbert said. “I am proud of this group. They worked hard, got better as the season progressed, and were great teammates while doing so.”

The Blues will graduate three seniors: Payton Emore averaged 9.7 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists, leading PM in the final two categories, while Tatyana Turner totaled 5.2 points per night, and Roberts contributed 2.3 assists and 2.3 steals per game.

But among other returners, PM is slated to bring back Hamilton, a junior, who led the team with 13.7 points per game – including a careerhigh 29 points in the district championship win over Narrow – and Mohler, a junior. who ranked third on the team with 8.1 points per night and second with 2.5 assists.

PM 46, BC 41

PM claimed a hard-fought 46-41 victory over Bland County in the Region 1C quarterfinals in Buena Vista on Tuesday of last week.

The Blues saw a 14-point second-half lead slip away against the Bears (14-11), who were seeded fourth out of the Mountain Empire. But PM used a 7-0 run in the final 2:22 to regain control and hold on for the win.

Emore scored 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds to pace PM, while Turner totaled 11 points – including the go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:22 to play – and five boards. Tinley Worley tallied a game-high 16 points for Bland, and Danielle Sanders recorded 13 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks.

Sanders, the Bears’ towering junior center, was a tricky matchup for PM. But the Blues limited her touches on the offensive end, intercepting several lob passes and preventing her from dominating down low.

“We were trying to front and sandwich her [Sanders] as best we could,” Gilbert said. “Once she gets it in the post, it’s hard to do anything with her. … For the most part, I thought we did a pretty decent job.”

The Blues broke open a tight game by closing the first half on a 14-2 run. Emore had six markers during that spurt, and Roberts posted the final four points of the half – including a transition jumper with just three seconds left – as PM assumed a 27-17 lead at the break.

Triples from Turner and Emore helped the Blues pad the margin to 35-21 midway through the third period, but an extended 18-4 stretch for the Bears brought them all the way back. Bland used a 9-2 run to trim the deficit to single digits, and then proceeded to score the first nine points of the final frame. Worley tallied the final seven markers of that spurt, tying the score at 39-39 on a floater with 4:39 to play.

But the PM defense came up big in crunch time, forcing a handful of turnovers and getting a string of key stops to keep the Bears off the board for over four minutes. Turner then stepped up and buried a corner trey off a feed from Hamilton that put the Blues in front for good.

“We started to get tight and tense there at the end of the third, first part of the fourth,” Gilbert said. “Once Tatyana hit the shot, we could take a deep breath and go, ‘Alright, we’ve got the lead again; let’s keep it. Let’s go.’” PM did just enough at the foul line in the waning moments to secure the win, connecting on 4-of-8 attempts in the final 1:08. Bland’s only bucket down the stretch was a buzzerbeating putback from Madelynn Rasnake that provided the final margin.

In addition to canning the biggest shot of the game, Turner – a senior who comes off the bench but plays big minutes for the Blues – was a key factor in PM’s defensive game plan as well.

“That takes a lot of energy out when you exert it on the defensive side of the basketball,” Gilbert said of Turner. “She had enough in the tank to hit some shots late for us.”

Hamilton finished with nine points and three assists, and Mohler added eight points and eight rebounds. Kendall Worley totaled six points and eight rebounds for the Bears, while Addisen Myers chipped in nine rebounds and three assists.