HYDE –The Lady Bisons can\’t afford to look back now.
Clearfield came out flat and Brookville flat out ran over the homestanding Lady Bisons, 47-32, Friday night at Arthur J. Weiss gymnasium on Elementary Basketball Night in front of a hushed crowd. The loss was the first for Clearfield this season.
\”Offensively, we didn\’t execute,\” said Clearfield head coach Joey Castagnolo. \”It seemed like we were frustrated most of the time on offense, and I don\’t know why. They kept double-teaming our penetration. We would kick it out and couldn\’t hit the three, and got frustrated.\”
Paige Elkin, Carlie Cook and Katie Reinsel scored all of Brookville points with a diverse offense that wasn\’t afraid to penetrate the lane or pull up and shoot the occasional 3-pointer against the Lady Bisons defense. Elkin paced the attack with 20 points, while Cook poured in 16. Reinsel added 11 points. Elkin and Cook went 12-of-12 from the free throw line as the Lady Raiders pulled away from Clearfield in the second half to secure the win.
\”We knew they had two people, and only three scored all their points,\” Castagnolo said. \”We knew about Paige Elkin and Carli Cook.
\”I just don\’t understand how we didn\’t respond.\”
Brooke Jordan led Clearfield with nine points, while Elizabeth Sopic scored six and Nikki Collins added five.
Clearfield (3-1, at Curwensville Wednesday) won the opening tip, but the Lady Raiders went wild early in the first quarter by building a 10-0 lead with 5:22 left in the opening stanza. Elkin hit a jumper and a 3-pointer to open the game, Reinsel added a jumper from out near the free-throw line and Cook\’s 3-pointer had Clearfield head coach Joey Castagnolo calling for a timeout.
The Lady Bisons were able to tighten up their game on both ends of the court with solid defense that created plenty of offense. Mallory Janocko hit a free throw to get Clearfield started, and Collins drilled a 3-pointer from the left side to cut the deficit to six. After Reinsel\’s jumper, Collins converted a layup off an assist from Brooke Jordan, who stripped Cook of the ball at midcourt. Jordan then hit a jumper off an assist from Collins, who stole the ball near mid-court, and Elizabeth Peters hit a jumper to pull the Lady Bisons within a pair, 12-10, with 2:25 left in the opening quarter.
Cook hit a layup, but Alaina Luzier and Sopic hit easy shots to knot the score at 14-14 heading into the second quarter.
The Lady Raiders made their move in the second quarter by frustrating the Clearfield offense. Brookville was able to prevent the Lady Bison from getting their fast-break game in action, but also halted the Lady Bisons in the half-court. Clearfield continually pushed the ball inside, but couldn\’t convert any of its chances. The Lady Bisons tried from the outside to no avail as 3-pointer after 3-pointer rimmed out.
\”We were trying to drive (in the lane) and they were doubling us, so we kicked it out and tried to hit the three,\” Castagnolo said. \”We hit a couple of those three\’s and we have momentum going our way. We needed just a couple to get us fired up. They have the green light (to take the shot). We tried to get the ball into Elizabeth (Sopic), and we didn\’t execute that. All we had to do what hit a couple of 3\’s and that turns the game around.\”
Brookville (5-2) opened the second quarter with a jumper from Elkin and a 3-pointer from Cook to secure a 5-point lead, 19-14, with 4:51 left in the half. Clearfield answered back with a jumper from Luzier and Jordan layup off a Collins steal and assist. The Lady Raiders took control of the game from there by hitting their foul shots and high-percentage shots. Elkin hit a pair of free throws to give the Lady Raiders a 3-point lead, 21-18. Annie Janocko\’s jumper in the paint with 45 seconds cut Clearfield\’s halftime deficit to three, 23-20.
Clearfield\’s offense managed to score 12 points over the final 16 minutes of the game, while Brookville\’s offense kept chugging along. The Lady Raiders outscored Clearfield 17-5 in the third quarter to take a commanding 40-25 lead into the final quarter. Brookville used a 10-0 run midway through the quarter to distance itself from the Lady Bisons. Cook accounted for six points in the run.
The scoring was even, 7-7, in the final quarter, but Clearfield couldn\’t dig out of the hole it created in the third quarter.
Clearfield won the junior varsity contest 44-29. Jayme Ryan and Elizabeth Peters scored 10 points apiece, while Amber Byerly and Madison Sopic each scored eight.
\”They don\’t miss at the foul line. We talked about before the game even started. You can\’t be in a close game with them, or leave them ahead of us, because Paige Elkin doesn\’t miss foul shots.\”
