Pioneers Blowout Royals as Woodruff Makes History

Pioneers Blowout Royals as Woodruff Makes History- Wil Teague, Sports Information Director, 1-4-24

Crolwey's Ridge- 108

Ecclesia College- 49

Paragould, Ark.- The title above says it all as the Lady Pioneers put their sixth tally of the season in the win column with a victory over the Royals of Ecclesia College this evening thanks to the historic effort of senior Point Guard, Travia Woodruff. In the 59-point blowout win, the Jonesboro, Ark. native reached three milestones this evening as Woodruff ended the night with 15 points, 15 assists, and 7 steals.

The first milestone Woodruff hit was tying CRC's Lady Basketball single-game steal record for the second time this season. Woodruff currently shares the throne with sophomore teammate Brinley Morgan who set the 7 steal mark last season in the team's season opener. The second record Woodruff collected on the night was the single-game assist record. The previous record stood at 13 assists which Woodruff herself had previously set on two separate occasions, with one happening in January of 2021 vs Lincon Christian and the second against Bacone in February of 2022. The final record broken by Woodruff with her 15-assist performance was the all-time assist leader at CRC. The 15 dishes allowed her to surpass the last two remaining assist leaders, standing in her way of the throne. Midway through the third quarter Travia collected her 8th assist allowing her to climb to number two of all time but Woodruff wasted little time ensuing her reign as the Point Guard kept the ball moving and passed out her 14th assist in the opening minutes of the 4th quarter allowing her to seize the throne. Woodruff now stands alone with 399 career assists and looks to build on her legacy for the remainder of the season. 

The Pioneer offense shot true this evening as the Lady Pioneers shot 50% from the field and a remarkable 48.6% from behind the arc in the contest. Freshmen Ansley Dawson led the Pioneers for the second consecutive contest as she broke into the 20s once more with a stat line of 20 points and 6 rebounds. Sophomores Hunter Gibson and Reigiana Ward followed with 19 and 16 points. Lastly, Junior Makayla Herndon led in rebounds with 11 and also scored 9 points in the win. 

Head Coach Chris Richardson has these two things to say when asked about his spotlight Point Guard and the team,  "I'm really proud of Travia. She has been through a lot with our program and has seen the ups and downs. She's really flourishing in her senior season. Three program records in one game speaks for itself. I'm also really proud of our team today. We executed offensively and shot it extremely well. We need to keep the momentum going into conference."

Up Next: CRC WBB hosts CofO in the Carter Activities Center this Saturday, January 6th at 1:00 PM to kick off their conference play. #GOPIONEERS