The Mount Gambier Pioneers racked up a winning double at Wulanda Recreation and Convention Centre on Friday night, with both the men’s and women’s teams defeating the Diamond Valley Eagles.

The OneFortyOne Pioneers women kicked off NBL1 South conference proceedings with a seven point win over the Eagles, with young gun Miela Goodchild topping the scoreboard with 22 points.

Haliegh Reinoehl contributed 15, with captain Cassandra Brown and Isabella Brancatisano each chipping in 14.

The Eagles came out guns blazing in the opening quarter, racing to an early 11-5 lead, before Brown steadied proceedings with a long range three.

From there the Pioneers rallied to draw level and then snatch the lead with three minutes on the clock.

The Eagles were not done though, reclaiming the lead, before Brown again hit a three to level the scores and push out to be up 21-18 at the first break.

Play was even for the first half of the second quarter, until a big three pointer from Diamond Valley gave the Eagles the lead.

However, Goodchild found her range from outside the arc to reclaim a slender lead before the Pioneers went on an 11-3 scoring run to be up 40-30 with two minutes to play.

The Eagles reset and clawed back some of the deficit to be down 35-42 at the half time break.

Both sides came out firing in the third quarter, with Brancatisano and Brown sending down threes, while the visitors returned fire with three of their own to again tie the score.

The Eagles outscored the home side 23-20 for the stanza to go into the last break down 58-62.

Diamond Valley pushed hard in the opening minutes to again level the scores, with the Eagles relying on their outside shooters, knocking down five three pointers, while Brancatisano and Goodchild hit threes of their own.

The Pioneers steadily pulled away to be up 77-67 with three minutes left in the game.

The Eagles continued to push, however the Mount Gambier side held on to take the win 82-75 and now sits third on the ladder.

Head coach Matt Sutton was chuffed with his side’s solid win over quality opposition.

“Diamond Valley are a good team and they are only going to get better,” he said.

“It was a very good win for us.

“Across the board we had some people do some good things for us, I thought Haliegh had a really solid game, her effort gave us some extra opportunities.

“Sherrie had really good impact at both ends of the court.

“We were really happy for Imogen to close out the game with some strong rebounds that sealed the victory.”

The Castec Rural Pioneers men again took the court without sharp shooter Nick Marshall, still sidelined through injury.

The sides exchanged baskets for the opening five minutes, until a three pointer from captain Kane de Wit pushed the Pioneers’ lead out to seven.

The Eagles rallied to draw scores level at the end of the first quarter.

Diamond Valley took the lead for the first time of the match in the opening 90 seconds of the second quarter, but the Pioneers powered away to be up 52-35 at half time.

Tall timber Jacob Lampkin thrilled the crowd with a dunk in the opening minute of play in the third quarter, as the Pioneers drew away to a 21 point lead.

Three pointers from the Eagles reeled the deficit back to 16 until the Pioneers closed out the quarter to be up 74-56.

Diamond Valley outscored their opposition 21-18 in the final stanza, despite a pair of three pointers from Julian Pesava, while Lampkin also found range from outside.

The Pioneers held on for a decisive victory, taking the match 92-77.

Tom Kubank top scored for the home side with 17, with Pesava contributing 16 and youngster Austin Shelley 15.

Lampkin tallied a double double, shooting 15 points and pulling in 13 rebounds.

Head coach Richard Hill was pleased with the win, which lifted the Castec Rural Pioneers up to sixth place on the ladder.

“I was really pleased with the win Friday night, we were still down Nick Marshall which hurt us a little bit,” he said.

“Our form has been good, but we are getting better, having Jacob back helps.

“Our second quarter we blew the game apart with some good quality basketball and we held on from there.

“It was a pleasing win.”

Hill said the side was hopeful Marshall would return to the team this week for a road trip double in Victoria.