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Brooke leads with 16, Attinger, Hopper also score in double figures
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
ROYAL CENTER — The Pioneer girls basketball team shut out visiting Frankfort in the second quarter of their Indiana Kitchen Classic quarterfinal game at the auxiliary gym
on Dec. 19.
For an encore, they did it again in the third quarter.
All told, Pioneer held Frankfort scoreless for nearly 17 minutes and went on a 36-0 run in cruising to a 64-16 win. Pioneer won their third game in four days and earned a spot in the semifinals against Delphi. The Lady Oracles handled Winamac 52-18 in their quarterfinal.
Ashlynn Brooke led Pioneer with 16 points, all in the first half. Kylie Attinger had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds and she added three blocks, and Gracie Hopper had 10.
Pioneer improved to 11-2.
Vannessa Guardado led Frankfort (1-10) with five points. Pioneer forced 30 turnovers.
“I think our girls did a good job in our 2-3 zone coming up and pressuring the ball and kind of denying that reversal pass,” Pioneer coach Jeff Brooke said. “Kylie Attinger did a nice job in the high post denying that, and we wanted to make sure we pressured their guards. We know they’re young and inexperienced, so I think that worked tonight to our advantage.”
Said Ashlynn Brooke: “That’s just us being aggressive.”
Offensively, Ashlynn Brooke scored nine points in the second quarter on a pair of transition layups and five made free throws in five attempts.
With school all-time leading scorer Hailey Cripe now playing softball at Kansas, Ashlynn Brooke said she has become an even bigger focus of opposing defenses.
Anticipating that, Makenna Strycker and Spanish exchange student Paula Collado Fernandez have worked more on the ball in practice.
“Without Hailey, now I’m going to see more box-in-ones, triangle-in-twos,” Ashlynn said. “It’s just we’ve got to get other people come to the ball. It just can’t be all the time. I’m going to have to move off the ball, so we really pushed (Strycker) in practice to handle the ball, and then Paula has also come in and started to handle the ball.”
Pioneer won their third straight game since a road loss to Caston in Hoosier North play on Dec. 13. In fact, both of Pioneer’s losses have been to the undefeated Lady Comets, but coach Brooke thinks that the losses have brought out the team’s resolve.
“Our girls don’t like to lose,” coach Brooke said. “Obviously, they want to get back in the gym. Triton was down a little bit. They had some sickness run through. Frankfort’s not where they need to be yet, but they’ll get it. … So we caught those two teams on off nights, but our girls continue to persevere and continue to get better.”
Pioneer 64, Frankfort 16
FRANKFORT (16) (1-10)
Ashley Vasquez-Rivera 1 0-0 3, Daizy Santos Valdez 1 0-0 3, Madyson Cook 1 0-0 3, Jalyn Vessels 0 0-0 0, Vannessa Guardado 2 1-2 5, Ella McAtee 1 0-0 2, Saira Flores 0 0-0 0, Jada Vessels 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 6 1-2 16
PIONEER (64) (11-2)
Makenna Strycker 1 2-2 4, Ashlynn Brooke 4 6-6 16, Gracie Hopper 5 0-0 10, Paula Collado Fernandez 4 1-2 9, Kylie Attinger 6 3-5 15, Mia McKaig 2 0-2 5, Crystabelle Blickenstaff 0 1-2 1, Allison McGrew 0 0-0 0, Julia McGrew 1 2-5 4, Kynzie Hathaway 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 23 15-24 64
Three-point field goals:
Frankfort 3 (Vasquez-Rivera, Cook, Santos Valdez),
Pioneer 3 (Brooke 2, McKaig)
Total fouls: Frankfort 18, Pioneer 6
Technical foul: Frankfort bench, 4:37, second; Cook (FRA), 2:20, third
Fouled out: Cook (FRA), 2:20, third
Turnovers: Frankfort 30, Pioneer 21
Score by quarters
Frankfort 14 0 0 2 – 16
Pioneer 26 18 14 6 – 64
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