Lady Pioneers Fall to Northeast Mississippi

By: Nick Kieser

GALLATIN, TENNESSEE — After having a solid week off the Lady Pioneers dropped their second game of the year to Northeast Mississippi Community College (64-47).  Aliyah Miller led the way to finish off the night with the team-high in points (10).  Behind her was Kelsey Harriman with (9); she went 3-8 in three-point shots last night.

"They have to identify and find out who they are as a team. We go out and think it's just basketball and it's actually a little more than that.  Those kids on Northeast were hungry and they wanted it.  They had a lot of grit and we didn't match that, and that's what we have to do to compete," said head coach Otis Key.

For the visiting team, this was the second time scoring the same amount of points this season.  In their opener and last night, they scored (64).  Now to begin their young season Northeast has a record of (2-0).

"We're going to be more physical first off. They are going to have to battle each other a little harder, work harder, and we aren't going to take any shortcuts," said Key.

According to assistant coach Tony Thompson, Miller was playing with an injured groin and still managed to have the night that she did.

"We lost three games and they were all based on how the toughness level of the team was.  More emphasis on rebound and more putting the body on people.  We have to come in day in and day out and do this," said Thompson.

Another asset to the team is Erica Mason who also was playing with some discomfort tonight.  Thompson further updated after the game that she was juiced up on gatorade coping with having the flu.

"As a team, we weren't as compressed as we needed to be.  We should have been back more on defense, eliminated the turnovers we had, and I feel like we didn't play as hard as we usually do," said Mason.  "We need to be more aggressive.  Also, go hit the weight room because we got pushed around tonight," she said.

Next game for the Lady Pioneers is at home this Saturday at 4 p.m. against a conference team in Jackson State Community College (2-0).  Jackson State will face the Lady Pioneers on the second game of a back-to-back with game one at Motlow State Community College.

Tune in for the game at 88.5 WVCP and on Twitter @VSCCPioneersWBB.