Pioneer Bench Shows Out

Pioneer Bench Shows Out-Wil Teague, Sports Information Director, 12-10-22

Women's Basketball hosted Oakwood University tonight in the Carter Activities Center. The Pioneers were looking for revenge as they dropped the first matchup against the Ambassadors back on November 19th, in a tough 48-47 loss. With the help from a strong performance from the Pioneer bench, Crowley's Ridge claimed round two with a 68-61 win over the Ambassadors. With this victory the Pioneers improved to 6-4 on the season. 

In the first two quarters of play they would have the same ending. The Pioneers would see stretches of the score in their favor but would be unable to pull away as the Ambassadors would find a way to keep it close. Brinley Morgan and Octavia Lowery would hit back to back threes to take their biggest lead of the first quarter,18-11, before Oakwood rallied a 7-0 run making things even at 18. What would give the Pioneers the slight advantage would be two free throws from Alayzah Foster with 5 seconds left ending the quarter up 20-18.

Quarter two, the Pioneers took a late lead, 31-24, with another three ball from Octavia Lowery. This run matched their biggest lead of the night, 7 points for a second time. As the Pioneers looked to increase the gap even more, they were plagued with bad breaks and a few turnovers that the Ambassadors capitalized on. Oakwood University tied the game, 31-31 with a jumper from the elbow putting the pressure back on CRC. Again, like the first quarter, Alayzah Foster would step to the charity stripe to push the Pioneer lead 33-32 entering the half. 

Quarter three, Crowley's Ridge picked up right where they left off. Hunter Gibson got things going immediately for the Pioneer attack by drawing the foul on her shot and sinking two free throws. On the next possession Seirrah Floyd produced a steal and linked up with Brinley Morgan on the assist to take a 5 point lead off a 4 point run. Again, the Ambassadors rallied and would tie the game 4 different times, but couldn't turn the tides as Alayzah Foster caught fire. In the last thirty seconds in the quarter Foster put up a 5-0 run with one free throw and two layups off turnovers by the Ambassadors, giving them their third 7 point lead  53-46. 

Quarter four, Oakwood opened with their longest run of the evening, 8-0. This time it would be enough to retake the lead from the Pioneers ,54-53, at the 7:14 mark. Now trailing for the first time in this matchup, Reigiana Ward would step up to break the tie at the 6:06 left in the game with a layup claiming back the lead 55-54. The Pioneers would not trail Oakwood again as Octavia Lowery produced a solid 10 point quarter hitting two three balls helping spread the score out and giving the Pioneers a 68-61 win. 

Leaders: 

Alayzah Foster and Octavia Lowery entered today's matchup from the bench. The duo combined for half of the teams points, 34, with Lowery leading with (19) going 5-6 from behind the arc, and Foster chasing with (15) going 2-3 from behind the three point line. Brinley Morgan produced a solid (13) points in the contest. 

Up Next:

WBB takes on Campbellsville at home in the Carter Activities Center on December, 17th at 3:00pm.