Val T.
- Jan 18, 2021
- 4 min read

Borges’ treys in 4th help Pioneer girls pull away from Argos

Redinger leads Lady Dragons with 10 in loss

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

ROYAL CENTER –- The girls basketball game between Argos and Pioneer Saturday was going to be about one freshman’s breakout performance until it turned out to be about another freshman’s breakout performance.

It was about rebounding too.

Olivia Brooke scored 17 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, and Brooklyn Borges scored 13 of her 16 points in the second half to lead the Class 1A, No. 6 Lady Panthers to a 55-40 win over the Lady Dragons.

Like her teammate Brooke, Madison Blickenstaff also had a double-double-for Pioneer, scoring 10 points and hauling in 12 rebounds.

Pioneer, who won their ninth straight game, improved to 12-3. Argos lost their second straight game and dropped to 7-10.

Freshman Samantha Redinger made her first career start for Argos at guard and scored a team-high 10 points. Madi VanDerWeele had nine, and Emma Dunlap had eight. But Argos did not score in the final 3:38 after getting within 49-40.

Redinger also defended Pioneer’s Hailey Cripe and held her to eight points. Cripe had scored 20 or more points in four of her previous five games. Redinger had guarded Oregon-Davis’ high-scoring Mercedes Rhodes for a time two days earlier. Coach Scott Jennings liked what he saw, so he told Redinger to take Cripe.

“We put a freshman on her, and the freshman had no fear,” Jennings said. “So we put little Sammy Redinger on her, and I thought she did a darn good job on her. She even picked it up on the offensive side for us. I've seen her come along on the JV, and we’ve got her some minutes on the varsity. She’s going to be a player.”

When Sydney Shepherd drilled a 3-pointer with just under seven minutes left, Argos only trailed 40-35.

But Borges answered with a 3-pointer from the left wing.

After a Pioneer timeout, Mackenzie Walker drove to the middle and kicked out to Borges for another 3 that got the lead to 11.

Argos’ Lizzy Edmonds hit a jumper from the high post, but Brooke kicked out to Borges for another trey to get the lead to 49-37.

Borges had scored four points in her previous four games combined.

“I knew I needed to step up because lately I haven’t been, and Hailey can’t be the only one making all the points when our posts aren’t hitting shots,” Borges said.

The 6-0 Borges said she was primarily a post player before entering high school. But with seniors like Brooke and Blickenstaff occupying the post, her role has changed in high school. She said she has learned a lot from playing with Olivia Brooke and Blickenstaff.

“It’s definitely sped up from junior high, and I like it a lot more,” Borges said. “I’ve improved a lot, and I love playing with all of them.”

But she had a 3-pointer in the first half, and she had a steal which led to a layup as part of a 10-0 Pioneer run to start the second half that turned a 24-22 deficit into a 32-24 lead. She also had a putback that made it 38-28 later in the third quarter.

“That was an explosion from her,” Pioneer coach Jeff Brooke said. “You know, if you think about it, that was a game changer. … She’s only averaging about two or three points a game, and I think we won by 15 today. She was the factor.”

Brooke said he didn’t so much change the defensive scheme in the second half as he did the matchups, telling Cripe to guard Madi VanDerWeele in the second half.

Argos had seven turnovers in the first half but 10 in the third quarter. Redinger and VanDerWeele combined for 14 points in the first half but just five in the second half.

“We switched up our personnel and just who was guarding whom,” coach Brooke said. “I probably should have done that in the first half a little quicker than what we did. … I put Cripe on VanDerWeele and moved Olivia off her, and I thought that really helped us. And then we switched it up between our 2-3 zone and our man and kept them guessing a little bit what zone or man offense they should be running. But credit our girls, I think Brooklyn was one of them that got a couple of quick steals and did a nice job for us.”

Jennings noted both the turnover and rebounding woes after the game. Edmonds picked up her fourth foul with 4:15 left in the third quarter. Her minutes limited, she scored four points before fouling out with 52 seconds left in the game.

“We talk about it a lot, but we still got to learn to take care of the ball,” Jennings said. “A sense of urgency. When they’re out playing that good of defense out top and getting steals like that, we’ve got to attack the basket a little bit more and get to the foul line, and I don’t think that’s what we did.”

Pioneer 55, Argos 40

ARGOS (40) (7-10)

Samantha Redinger 3 2-2 10, Sydney Shepherd 1 0-0 3, Emma Dunlap 3 0-0 8, Madi VanDerWeele 4 1-2 9, Lizzy Edmonds 2 0-1 4, Bella Stults 0 0-0 0, Sophie Bollenbacher 2 2-2 6

TEAM: 15 5-7 40

PIONEER (55) (12-3)

Mackenzie Walker 0 1-2 1, Hailey Cripe 3 1-3 8, Olivia Brooke 6 5-7 17, Brooklyn Borges 6 0-0 16, Madison Blickenstaff 4 2-4 10, Crystabelle Blickenstaff 1 1-2 3, Bryleigh Binney 0 0-0 0, Maggie Steffel 0 0-0 0, Katelyn Duncan 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 20 10-18 55

Three-point field goals:

Argos 5 (Redinger 2, Dunlap 2, Shepherd),

Pioneer 5 (Borges 4, Cripe)

Total fouls: Argos 18, Pioneer 13

Fouled out: Edmonds (ARG), 0:52, fourth

Turnovers: Argos 21, Pioneer 15

Score by quarters

Argos 16 8 6 10 – 40

Pioneer 14 8 16 17 – 55

JV: Pioneer 37, Argos 35

Watch the full Game Here: