One year made quite a difference between Walker Valley and Warren County on the hardwood. Just one season after the Lady Pioneers opened their season with a 59-13 shellacking of the Lady Mustangs, Warren County was the wrong end of a blowout in a rematch.

The Lady Mustangs ran wild in a 48-33 victory Saturday at Charlie Dalton Gym, spoiling the home debut of the Lady Pioneers and first-year head coach Mendy Stotts.

Lots has changed on the Warren County roster in 12 months as five key seniors who were leaders during last year’s sensational season graduated in May and the lone returner with plenty of experience – Sable Winfree – was dismissed from the team less than 24 hours before the matchup with Walker Valley.

Saturday turned out to be a way to showcase the Lady Pioneer youth as freshmen Addison Steakley (five points), Maci McBride (three points), Alyssa Parsley (two points) and Aubrey Oleksik (two points) all scored for the first time on their home court. 

“The girls are trying to learn their roles,” said Stotts. “The more on-the-court experience our players can get, the better. We saw some good sparks from several players at times.”

Sophomore Kealey Simpson, another Lady Pioneer getting her first points at Charlie Dalton Gym, was one of the sparks. Simpson, who played at Boyd last year but is in red, white and blue this season, came off the bench to the lead the team with six points. 

She was a force in the paint, getting putback buckets and establishing position on the block until the Lady Mustangs were forced to send multiple players her way. Bri Taylor also did damage in the paint, scoring a pair of buckets from point-blank range as most of Warren County’s offense came from within three feet.

Steakley and junior Brinlee Griffith hit the team’s lone 3-pointers – both in the second half after Walker Valley had built a 30-14 advantage by halftime.

“We have to increase our shooting percentages. We will take one game a t time and work on getting better,” said Stotts.

Warren County was back at home for a big rivalry matchup with White County Tuesday. See Friday’s paper for more information on the matchup with the Warriorettes.

Lady Pioneer scoring – Simpson 6, Steakley 5, Taylor 4, Griffith 3, McBride 3, Oleksik 2, Parsley 2, Valery Esparza 2, Trinity Reynolds 2, Lexx Verge 2, Hailey Simpson 1, Miranda Medley 1