Lady Lions hold halftime lead, but host Pioneer steals it away behind giant 2nd half explosion to roll towards 42-26 victory; Wellsville to face A-P at Alfred U next on Tuesday

YORKSHIRE — On a very quiet Saturday afternoon around much of the area, the Wellsville Lady Lions were on the hunt for a first. With another victory in the win column, they would become the first team in Allegany County to cross the 10-win threshold on the campaign.

The road ahead was not going to get any easier, with teams like Avoca-Prattsburgh and their archrival Hornell both waiting on the other side of the weekend. But up first however, were the Pioneer Lady Panthers.

And they had other plans in store for the Lady Lions.

With the scoring becoming hard to come by through the first half of play, the Lady Lions had established a halftime lead to carry into the locker room with them. But on the return back out for the second half, Pioneer flipped the script completely on the visitors in black and orange, as they coasted towards a 20-point bombardment to claim the lead, while a massive fourth quarter finish shortly after helped cement it for good to complete a 42-26 victory on their home floor.

Both teams worked through the first three minutes of play to find their way onto the scoreboard first, with the Lady Lions (9-2) coming away with a 6-4 advantage first. Later on, the back-and-forth exchange continued in the second, which allowed Wellsville to keep command of the contest in their possession, up 12-11 at the break.

In the next 16 minute session however, a humongous turning of the tide.

Pioneer came out swinging for the fences with the biggest quarter of offense the afternoon had to offer, as they jumped over top of the Lady Lions with a 20-11 jaunt — a run that helped produce a lead for the Lady Panthers that reached as high as 11 down the stretch, going into the last eight minutes.

To finish off the victory, the Lady Panthers then turned their attention to the opposite end of the floor, where the defense locked down their opposition, holding the Lady Lions to just three more points in the midst of an 11-3 game-ending run.

Despite the defeat, the Lady Lions saw another strong outing of offense from Makenna Dunbar, as she posted a team-high 15 points. Jaden Dunbar had six points to go with five rebounds. Caelyn Stevens also had five more boards to grab off the glass.

In the JV contest, Pioneer went on to claim a 51-38 victory over Wellsville. Leading the scoring for the Lady Lions was Hailey Cowburn and her team-high 13 points.

Wellsville will look to bounce back come Tuesday night at Alfred University, as they prepare to face the Avoca-Prattsburgh Lady Titans in a 6:30 p.m. tip-off at the McLane Center.

Wellsville 6 6 11 3 – 26

Pioneer 4 7 20 11 – 42

WELLSVILLE: Caelyn Stevens 1 1-1 3, Natalie Adams 1 0-0 2, Makenna Dunbar 6 2-4 15, Jaden Dunbar 1 4-4 6. Totals: 9 7-9 26.
PIONEER: Ellie Edwards 3 0-0 6, Bailei Hopkins 1 0-0 2, Jayden Leederman 3 0-0 7, Celsy Colombo 10 2-2 23, Reecelyn Bull 0 0-2 0, Abby Mason 1 2-4 4. Totals: 18 4-8 42.

3-point goals: Wellsville 1 (M. Dunbar), Pioneer 2 (Leederman, Colombo).
Total Fouls: Wellsville 8, Pioneer 17. Fouled out: None.