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Edmonds scores 14, grabs 14 boards, but slow start dooms Lady Dragons
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
ARGOS — Ashlynn Brooke hit five 3-pointers and scored 21 points before leaving the game as the Pioneer girls basketball team used a game-opening 17-2 run to build an early lead and defeat Argos 52-39 at Phil Weybright Gymnasium Saturday.
Hailey Cripe took over at point guard for Brooke with 5:17 left and finished with 10 points.
Pioneer improved to 3-0 in January and 14-4 on the season.
Lizzy Edmonds had 14 points and 14 rebounds for Argos, who fell to 11-6. Samantha Redinger added 12 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter. Emma Dunlap, who had a career-high 17 against Oregon-Davis on Thursday, had nine this time.
Pioneer built the lead to as big as 39-18 in the fourth quarter. Argos would rally within 46-34 on a Redinger 3-pointer with 6:15 left, but Brooke would answer with a banked-in 3-pointer to extend the lead to 15.
With the lead at 49-35, Brooke drove to the basket and hit the floor on the drive. She was slow to her feet before coach Jeff Brooke helped her out of the gym. She later walked back in the gym under her own power and watched the remainder from the bench.
Ashlynn Brooke is averaging 25 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists per game. She missed the Nov. 20 game against Culver due to an ankle injury and also had the starts to her 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons delayed due to knee injuries that required surgical repair.
Coach Brooke was more optimistic about the prognosis this time.
“Like any kid would do, when you land on your knees, sometimes it hurts,” coach Brooke said. “It looks like she’s got a little bit of a bruise on it, but we’ll be good to go. … Obviously, when you have injuries like that and you go down, people suspect the worst. And she’s a tough kid, and we’ll get some ice on it and see what’s going on. She’s walking, and she’s up and around, so I’m sure we’re good.”
Argos committed 14 turnovers, six of them in the first quarter as Pioneer built their lead.
Pioneer freshman Makenna Strycker, whose sister Macee starred on the 2016 Argos team that was the Class 1A state runner-up, hit a 3-pointer to open the scoring.
Bella Stults scored for Argos, but a pick-and-roll layup from Kylie Attinger, a Macee Baker jumper from the left baseline and a Brooke steal and layup made it 9-2 and necessitated an Argos timeout.
After the timeout, Brooke hit a 3 off the dribble and then another 3 before zipping a pass to Cripe in transition for a layup that made it 17-2.
Argos had to call another timeout.
“I think part of it is our mental game, just being ready early,” Argos coach Scott Jennings said. “We’ve had some rough starts in a couple other games this year. … I think we were ready, but I think the adrenaline rush, we missed some shots early, we came up short on some shots. We just didn’t execute coming off the bat. … We’re going to carry those last three quarters into next week (at the Bi-County Tournament).”
Meanwhile, Pioneer held down Argos defensively, first with a man-to-man at the start and then later a 3-2 zone designed to limit Argos’ 3-point looks.
“We came out obviously in a man-to-man just to kind of get us going,” coach Brooke said. “Sometimes when you come out in zone, you’re on your heels a little bit. Then they got going. So we worked on that ‘32’ this week because I think they’ve got some nice shooters, number 20 (Dunlap), number 10 (Redinger) and number 14 (Bella Stults). I wanted to make sure we were able to protect outside, and I think we did a nice job. And then credit our bigs today doing a nice job against their flashes. Coach Jennings did a nice job sending flashers to the middle, to the high post, and credit our back-side guards covering that at times.”
Edmonds was held scoreless in the first quarter, but she scored eight of Argos’ 10 points in the second quarter. She made eight of nine free throws for the game.
But Brooke hit two more treys in the quarter as the lead reached 30-14 at halftime.
Though the lead stayed in double digits, Argos coach Scott Jennings saw progress in Stults, saying she did a “phenomenal job” on Brooke before fouling out with 4:20 left.
He also praised Redinger, who has increased her scoring load this season. Redinger also face-guarded Cripe and held her to eight points under her average.
He also wants Edmonds to be more aggressive.
“I was harping on her a little bit,” Jennings said. “I said, ‘You’ve got to attack the basket. You’ve got to want the ball bigger.’ She’s got to be a little stronger with the ball. … We keep working on her. … She’s got to work on her strength a little bit. She’s been a little bit under the weather, so her stamina I didn’t think was quite there. She looked tired today. … Hopefully, we can get her built back up over the weekend and get her ready to go next week.”
Pioneer 52, Argos 39
PIONEER (52) (14-4)
Macee Baker 2 1-4 6, Ashlynn Brooke 8 0-0 21, Hailey Cripe 2 6-8 10, Makenna Strycker 3 0-0 7, Kylie Attinger 3 0-0 6, Keirsten Nies 0 0-0 0, Kennedy Corn 0 0-0 0, Allison McGrew 0 0-0 0, Maggie Steffel 0 0-0 0, Brooklyn Borges 1 0-0 2
TEAM: 19 7-12 52
ARGOS (39) (11-6)
Samantha Redinger 4 2-4 12, Emma Dunlap 4 1-2 9, Bella Stults 1 0-0 2, Amanda Fajardo 0 0-0 0, Lizzy Edmonds 3 8-9 14, Allison Zahm 0 0-0 0, Carleigh Miller 0 0-0 0, Sophia Bollenbacher 0 2-2 2
TEAM: 12 13-17 39
Three-point field goals:
Pioneer 7 (Brooke 5, Strycker, Baker),
Argos 2 (Redinger 2)
Total fouls: Pioneer 12, Argos 10
Fouled out: Stults (ARG), 4:20, fourth
Turnovers: Pioneer 13, Argos 14
Score by quarters
Pioneer 17 13 14 8 – 52
Argos 4 10 14 11 – 39
Watch Full Game Here:
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