Pioneer basketball briefs: Cripe scores 40, Brooke contributes triple-double in win over CC

Sweet scores 8, but boys fall at Caston

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Girls basketball

Pioneer 75, Clinton Central 35 (Thursday): Hailey Cripe, Pioneer’s all-time leading scorer, scored 40 points in the final home game of her career, and Ashlynn Brooke scored 25 points, dished out 14 assists and had 10 steals for the host Lady Panthers in a rout of Clinton Central Thursday.

Pioneer outscored Clinton Central 23-3 in the third quarter with Cripe scoring 17 points. Brooke hit five 3-pointers and is second in the state with 87 made 3-pointers for the season.

Senior Maggie Steffel hit the first 3-pointer of her career in the fourth quarter.

Pioneer led 41-20 at halftime.

Pioneer (19-4) closed the regular season on an eight-game winning streak. They will play Rochester in a Class 2A, Sectional 37 quarterfinal at Lewis Cass on Tuesday.

CLINTON CENTRAL (35) (12-9)

Davison 5 6-8 16, Parkison 3 3-4 10, Adams 2 2-3 7, Sarber 1 0-0 2, Long 0 0-1 0, Cruz 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 11 11-16 35

PIONEER (75) (19-4)

Macee Baker 1 0-0 3, Ashlynn Brooke 9 2-2 25, Maggie Steffel 1 0-0 3, Hailey Cripe 16 6-6 40, Kennedy Corn 0 0-0 0, Makenna Strycker 0 0-0 0, Brooklyn Borges 0 0-0 0, Kylie Attinger 1 0-0 2, Mandee Weisenburger 1 0-0 2

TEAM: 29 8-8 75

Three-point field goals:

Clinton Central 2 (Parkison, Adams),

Pioneer 9 (Brooke 5, Cripe 2, Baker, Steffel)

Total fouls: Clinton Central 9, Pioneer 16

Score by quarters

Clinton Central 5 15 3 12 – 35

Pioneer 19 22 23 11 – 75

Boys basketball

Caston 55, Pioneer 36 (Friday): Joey Spin scored eight of his game-high 13 points in the first quarter, and Bryce Rudicel added 10 for the host Comets in a win over conference and sectional rival Pioneer Friday.

Sam Smith returned from a one-game absence and scored nine. Jake Paschen hit a pair of 3-pointers and scored eight.

Caston hit eight 3-pointers as compared to Pioneer’s two.

Caleb Sweet scored eight points, and Jacob Ziegler added seven for Pioneer. Drew McKaig, who had scored in double figures in his previous four games, was held to six.

Caston led 28-11 at halftime.

Caston won their seventh straight and improved to 10-4 overall and 4-0 in the Hoosier North.

PIONEER (36) (3-11, 0-3)

Brock Robinson 2 0-1 4, Drew McKaig 2 1-2 6, Gavin Clem 1 0-0 3, Christian Scott 2 0-0 4, Oscar Solano 1 0-0 2, Rylahn Toloza 0 0-0 0, Brayden Erickson 0 0-0 0, Eli Miller 1 0-0 2, Caleb Sweet 4 0-1 8, Jacob Zeigler 3 1-1 7

TEAM: 16 2-5 36

CASTON (55) (10-4, 4-0)

Joey Spin 5 0-1 13, Kade Zeider 2 0-0 6, Bryce Rudicel 4 2-3 10, Jake Paschen 3 0-0 8, Sam Smith 3 3-4 9, Colby Pugh 0 0-0 0, Jackson Rentschler 0 0-0 0, Evan Howard 0 0-0 0, Cain Schanlaub 3 0-0 6, Talon Zeider 0 0-0 0, Caleb Stinson 1 0-0 3

TEAM: 21 5-8 55

Three-point field goals:

Pioneer 2 (McKaig, Clem),

Caston 8 (Spin 3, Paschen 2, K. Zeider 2, Stinson)

Total fouls: Pioneer 11, Caston 11

Score by quarters

Pioneer 5 6 8 17 – 36

Caston 15 13 13 14 – 55