Third Quarter Sentences Pioneers Fate

Third Quarter Sentences Pioneers Fate- Wil Teague, Sports Information Director, 2-17-24

Crowley's Ridge- 69

Arkansas Baptist- 81

Paragould, Ark.- The Carter Activities Center was packed this afternoon as fans from all around poured into the gymnasium supporting Crowley's Ridge College's Homecoming and Senior Day Ceremonies. Pioneer basketball hosted CAC opponent Arkansas Baptist College out of Little Rock, Arkansas as their Homecoming opponent, and with the Women's team entering the contest coming off a big 20-point win over Ecclesia College just two days prior, they wasted little time by taking ground over the Lady Buffaloes ending the first quarter up 19-10 despite being down their senior leader and starting point guard, Travia Woodruff. Reigiana Ward helped extend the Pioneer lead in the opening moments of the second quarter as the sophomore guard roped in her third and fourth three-pointers of the matchup but before the full 10 minutes of play expired, the Buffaloes would slowly chip back at the CRC lead and manage to tie the contest with eight seconds before the break. Not going down without a fight, sophomore Kiyuana Foster would drive to the basket and sneak in one last final bucket before the buzzer sounded, giving CRC the 35-33 advantage at the intermission. When play resumed, Arkansas Baptist executed their halftime changes as the Buffaloes manufactured their best quarter of the matchup by outsourcing the Pioneers 28-12. The Lady Pioneers turned things around in the fourth quarter by exhausting all their reserve fuel, outsourcing the visiting team as Sophomore Hunter Gibson came to life scoring 12 of CRC's 22 points but gloomily the damage done in the third quarter by ABC proved fatal as the Pioneers fell to the Buffaloes 81-69. Reigiana Ward led the team in scoring with 20 points, shooting four for five from three on the night. Ansley Dawson shared her usual workload finishing right behind Ward with 19 points. Lastly, with her major fourth-quarter run, Hunter Gibson finished third on the team with 17 points and led with 8 rebounds in the loss. 

Up Next: CRC Women's Basketball has officially qualified for the CAC Conference Tournament hosted in Lawrence, KS but will wrap up their regular season play with a final game against Baptist Bible College in Springfield, MO on Saturday, February 24th scheduled for 4:00 PM.  

#GOPIONEERS