HYDE — Revenge is a dish best served cold, but Clearfield girls basketball head coach Joey Castagnolo kept the thought of revenge warm in his teams\’ head heading into Wednesday evening\’s showdown against Elk County Catholic at Arthur J. Weiss Gymnasium.
The Lady Bisons felt embarrassed as they dropped a 56-17 decision to the Crusaders back on January 3.
Wednesday evening the Lady Bisons played with reckless abandon from opening tip to final buzzer in a 70-45 whitewashing of the Crusaders in front of an energetic but sparse crowd.
\”Revenge is a great motivator,\” Castagnolo said. \”We were embarrased when we played them the first time. I stressed all week. We are at home. Let\’s play a good game.\”
\”Our defense played excellent tonight. I think our defense ignites our offense. I like coaching defense here in the first half so we can run the floor. That helps our offense. It helps when we hit our shots. We never let them get in their rhythm. We took it right at them.\”
Clearfield (10-6 overall, 5-3 in D9 League play; at Bradford Friday) not only shot the ball well and dominated ECC on the boards, but turned in a stellar defensive performance as the Lady Bisons hounded the Crusaders all night long.
Nikki Collins led Clearfield with 16 points as she connected on 4-of-6 shots from behind the 3-point arc. Juliana Howell added 14 points and Brooke Jordan came off the bench to score 19 points, with the bulk coming in the second quarter. She also connected on four 3-pointers.
Elizabeth Sopic had another big game in the paint for the Lady Bisons. She scored nine points and hauled in 16 rebounds, before fouling out with 2:26 remaining in the game.
\”(Elizabeth Sopic) dominated, and that starts our offense in our fast-break,\” Castagnolo said. \”We were hot and that helped. We are a perimeter team. We hit our shots. We hit 10 three\’s.
\”We were moving, tonight. Last time we played them, we stood around and they stole the ball all the time from us. We were aggressive on offense. We took it to them offensively.\”
Laken Lenox led ECC with 15 points.
The teams traded buckets early in the game, but Clearfield\’s defense would eventually take over. The Lady Bisons used an 8-3 run to close the first quarter to take a 20-15 lead into the second quarter.
Collins and Howell paced the Lady Bisons offense in the opening frame. Collins hit a pair of 3-pointers and added a nifty jumper in the paint for eight of her 16 points. Howell connected on an early 3-pointer and added a pair of layups and hit three of four foul shots as Clearfield built an early advantage.
By dominating the offensive and defensive rebounds, the Lady Bisons prevented ECC from getting second chances at the bucket. Clearfield\’s smothering defense didn\’t allow the Crusaders many open looks at the basket either. Howell and Sopic each grabbed five rebounds.
Clearfield cranked up the defensive pressure in the second quarter, which directly led to its offense cashing in. Jordan came off the bench to score 11 of her 19 points in the frame as the Lady Bisons ran out to a commanding 40-22 lead.
The Lady Bisons second-quarter defense gave ECC fits. The Crusaders had trouble bringing the ball up the floor, moving the ball in the offensive zone and still couldn\’t counter Clearfield in the rebounding department.
Clearfield\’s first-half intensity took all the wind out of ECC\’s sails. The Crusaders came out flat in the second, and could never get into its game. Clearfield, meanwhile, kept running on all cylinders.
Collins drilled a pair of 3-pointers in the third quarter and Jordan added five points as Clearfield built an insurmountable 54-34 lead heading into the final quarter of play.
\”(Brooke Jordan) finally getting back to her playing style,\” Castagnolo said. \”She has to be one of the leaders. She just looked like the old Brooke Jordan we know.\”
Castagnolo emptied the bench in the final quarter and the Lady Bisons continued to use a lethal mixture of inside and outside shooting to prevent ECC from climbing back into the game. Mallory Janocko hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to set the final.
\”I am real happy,\” Castagnolo said of how his team is playing right now. \”The turning point was the loss at Elk County, and we righted the ship. We are starting to play as a team. We are running the floor. I like what I see. Everyone played well. It really helps when you shoot the ball well.\”
In junior varsity action, Clearfield improved to 9-5 on the season with a 33-27 victory. Amber Byerly led Clearfield with 14 points and Elizabeth Peters added 12 in the win. The victory was the 100th junior varsity victory for head coach Jerry Stewart.
Elk County Catholic – 45
Beveridge 2 0-0 5, Radkowski 1 0-0 2, DeFrain 1 0-0 2, Lenox 5 2-4 15, Grimone 2 0-0 4, L. Straub 3 2-2 8, Detsch 1 3-4 5, A. Straub 1 0-0 2, Geci 0 2-4 2. Totals: 16 9-14 45.
Clearfield – 70
Juliana Howell 5 3-4 14, Nikki Collins 5 2-2 16, Mallory Janocko 1 0-0 3, Annie Janocko 0 2-4 2, Elizabeth Sopic 2 5-6 9, Brooke Jordan 6 3-5 19, Alanna Luzier 0 1-2 1, Amber Byerly 0 2-2 2, Jayme Ryan 2 0-0 4, Elizabeth Peters 0 0-0 0, Gwen Porter 0 0-0 0, Madison Sopic 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20 18-25 70.
3-pointers: ECC 3-17 (Beveridge 1-2, Lenox 2-6, DeFrain 0-2, Geci 0-4, Radkowski 0-1, Detsch 0-1, A. Straub 0-1, ); Clearfield 10-25 (Collins 4-6, Jordan 4-7, M. Janocko 1-2, Howell 1-6, Luzier 0-2, Ryan 0-2).
Score By Quarters
ECC 15 7 12 11 – 45
Clearfield 20 20 14 14 – 70