Pioneer women clinch playoff spot on strength of seven-game winning streak

This past weekend, in what started as a roller coaster of emotions, the Pioneer Women’s basketball team cemented their spot in the NWC playoffs, which get underway in two weeks.  Beginning Friday night, the Pios celebrated Senior Night by honoring five seniors; Sara Kettler, Laura Snider, Allison Farr, Crystal Castle and Shawna Castle.  The Pios hosted the 12th ranked George Fox Bruins Friday in what could have been a preview of the first round match up in the Conference Playoffs.

After the very emotional ceremony, the Pios came out of the gates very slow, falling behind the Bruins 8-0 four minutes into the game.  However, the Pioneer Women turned up the intensity and answered by scoring nine straight points of their own, taking a 9-8 lead on a three-pointer by Allison Farr (’08) with 10:45 left in the first half.  Shawna Castle (’09) converted a three point play with
:01 left on the clock in the first half and gave the Pios a 25-20 lead going into halftime.

The second half was much the same as both teams played tenacious defense.  With the Pioneers going up 30-22 on another three pointer by Shawna Castle, the nationally ranked Bruins made one last push scoring seven straight points to make it a one point game with 13:25 remaining in the game.

The Pioneers defense proved to be to tough for the Bruins as they were held scoreless for six of the final eight minutes of the game.  A penetrating drive by Kim Kittell (’10) and a layup by Allison Farr with 1:30 remaining sealed the game for the Pioneers.  The Pios won the game 45-35 in what can only be called a stalwart defensive effort.

The Pioneers victory ended a 27 game losing streak to the Bruins.  For the Pioneers, Shawna Castle scored 12 points with six rebounds. Kelly Vega (‘10) scored ten points with four rebounds. Allison Farr logged the 500th rebound of her career. She had nine points and four boards in the game.

The Pios then headed to Salem, OR Saturday night to face off against the Willamette Bearcats.  This game was decided in the first ten minutes of the game where the Pios opened the game on a 13-0 run keeping the Bearcats off the board for nearly ten minutes.  The closest the Bearcats would come was five points with just under eight minutes left in the game.

Heather Jones (’11) hit three free throws in the final 1:30 of the game to ice the game for the Pios.  The Bearcats hit a couple of pointless three pointers in the final minute to make the score look closer than the game was played.

Allison Farr had a team high of 18 points for the Pioneers. Crystal Castle (‘08) ended the game just one rebound short of a double-double with 14 points and 9 rebounds. Castle moved up to fourth on the Pioneer all-time scoring list with 1,223 career points. She also moved up to fourth on the all-time rebounding list with 598 career rebounds.

With the weekend sweep, the Pioneer Women extended their winning streak to seven games which has been keyed by tenacious defensive effort.  They now have a two-game advantage in the fight for third place, which can be locked up with one more win in their final two games.

The Pioneers begin to close out the regular season on the road at Puget Sound this coming Friday. The Loggers are ranked second in the conference, so the Pios winning streak will face its toughest test yet.

The final game will be at Linfield this Saturday, who the Pios previously defeated 53-45 earlier in the season.