Basketball Recap: Ebonie Chatman's Big Game Can't Quite Lead Pioneer over Vela

If Pioneer was riding high fresh off their 61-32 takedown of Edinburg North last Tuesday, their most recent game may have dampened their spirits a bit. The Pioneer Diamondbacks took a 48-40 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Vela Sabercats on Tuesday. The Diamondbacks were not able to make up for their defeat to the Sabercats from their previous meeting back in February.

Pioneer lost despite a true team effort on offense, the best among them being Ebonie Chatman, who went 10 of 18 on her way to 26 points and three blocks. Chatman's evening made it six games in a row in which she has scored at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Anika Fleischmann, who dropped a double-double on 12 points and ten rebounds.

Even though they lost, Pioneer was working as a unit and finished the game with 15 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Vela only racked up nine assists.

Vela was led to victory by Gg Betancourt and Ava Tovar. Betancourt posted 20 points and three steals, while Tovar dropped a double-double on 14 points and 14 boards. Betancourt has been hot recently, having posted 16 or more points the last four times she's played. Another player making a difference was Savanah Rivera, who put up seven points and six boards.

Pioneer's loss dropped their record down to 11-9. As for Vela, the victory was the eighth in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 14-5.

Coincidentally, the two teams will both be playing Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Memorial the next time they take the court. Pioneer will head out to face Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Memorial at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, while Vela will host them at 7:30 p.m. on December 10th.