Brooke, Collado Fernandez each score 14, but Pioneer’s season ends with loss to North Miami

Brooke finishes with 1,533 points, single-season steals record

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Girls basketball

North Miami 46, Pioneer 44 (Saturday): Ashlynn Brooke and Paula Collado Fernandez scored 14 points each, but the Pioneer girls basketball team lost to North Miami in the Class 2A, Sectional 36 final at Lewis Cass Saturday.

Makenna Strycker added eight, including Pioneer’s only 3-pointer in the third quarter.

Pioneer finished 21-4.

North Miami built a 14-3 lead after one quarter and still led 23-14 at halftime.

They hung on despite missing five free throws in the fourth quarter.

Allison Bowman scored a game-high 17 points for the Lady Warriors (19-5), including a free throw that made it a two-possession game with 8.7 seconds left. Kaiden Hanley added 14, and Molly Freeman added 10.

North Miami won their second straight sectional title but their first Class 2A sectional since 2008. They won a Class 1A sectional in 2022. It marks the first time they have won back-to-back sectionals in either girls or boys basketball in school history.

Brooke hit her final high school shot with two seconds left, but Pioneer had no timeouts left and time expired. Brooke, a Ball State signee, finished with 596 points for the season (23.8 ppg) and 1,533 for her career.

She also broke the school all-time single-season steals record.

NORTH MIAMI (46) (19-5)

Allison Bowman 4 5-10 17, Laney Musall 0 5-6 5, Emily Smith 0 0-1 0, Kaiden Hanley 6 2-2 14, Molly Freeman 4 2-2 10, Ellie Musselman 0 0-0 0, Jadyn Hackworth 0 0-0 0, Grace Sailors 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 14 14-21 46

PIONEER (44) (21-4)

Makenna Strycker 2 3-6 8, Ashlynn Brooke 3 8-9 14, Paula Collado Fernandez 4 6-8 14, Gracie Hopper 2 0-0 4, Kylie Attinger 0 3-4 3, Julia McGrew 0 0-0 0, Crystabelle Blickenstaff 0 1-2 1

TEAM: 11 21-29 44

Three-point field goals:

North Miami 4 (Bowman 4),

Pioneer 1 (Strycker)

Total fouls: North Miami 21, Pioneer 18

Fouled out: Smith (NM), Attinger (PIO)

Score by quarters

North Miami 14 9 15 8 – 46

Pioneer 3 11 15 15 – 44