Pioneers? winless streak continues

Josh Moore finds himself in traffic after pulling down a rebound among a trio of Riverdale players Friday night.

But as their District 7-AAA matchup continued, the Warriors turned up the heat at Charlie Dalton Gym, using a second-quarter scoring surge to take command on the way to a 57-37 win.

Scott Thomas, who led the Riverdale football team to its win over Warren County in the first round of the TSSAA playoffs, proved he?s got talent on the hardwood as well, coming off the bench to provide 16 points and help the Warriors improved to 8-3 overall and 3-0 in district play. Warren County fell to 0-6 on the year, and 0-3 in the league standings.

Points were hard to come by for both squads in the early going, but the Pioneers finally got on the board and took an early 3-0 lead behind a Ryan Daniel free throw and a Chase Officer layup, which became the contest?s first field goal, coming 4:29 after the opening tip.

Kevin Smith scored Riverdale?s first basket with 3:15 to play in the first, then slammed home an alley-oop dunk later in the period to give the Warriors a lead they would ultimately never surrender.

Ahead by an 8-5 margin after one period, Riverdale saw its advantage trimmed to a point when a Josh Moore bucket, a Jared Vanatta 3-pointer and two free throws from Chris Weitzel closed the gap to 13-12.

Riverdale responded with a flourish, however, going on a 15-0 tear on the way to a 30-16 halftime lead.

Thomas scored five unanswered points for the Warriors as the third quarter got under way, and Riverdale out-scored its hosts 27-21 through the second half to preserve its sixth straight win.

Michael Young helped the Warrior cause with 12 points, 10 of which came in the second half. E.J. Wilcox had 11, while Smith finished with eight.

For the Pioneers, who were playing their second straight game without Donta Weir in the lineup, Moore and Weitzel finished with nine each while Vanatta and Daniel each had five.

Warren County travels to Coffee County Friday night.