HYDE — Punxsutawney\’s Lauren Martino stole the show from the homestanding Clearfield Lady Bisons on Thursday evening as the Lady Chucks senior scored 37 points to eclipse the 1,000-point plateau for her career and lead her team to a 72-55 District 9 regular season title clinching victory.
Clearfield (14-9, 7-5 D9) never got untracked in the game. The Lady Bisons suffered from a poor night shooting the basketball, while Punxsutawney did everything it needed to insure victory.
\”They did all the things you are supposed to do – box out, get offensive rebounds, take care of the basketball,\” said Clearfield head coach Joey Castagnolo about Punxsutawney. \”We had first-quarter jitters. I just hope it was just a bad game and we get it out of our system.\”
Three Lady Bisons scored in double figures with Elizabeth Sopic leading the way with 18. Nikki Collins and Brooke Jordan added 11 apiece in the loss.
Clearfield enters the District 9 Class AAA playoffs as the No. 3 seed and will travel to Bradford, the second-seed, at a time and date to be determined.
The Lady Bisons\’ shooting drought in the first quarter proved to be the difference. Clearfield managed to score 16 points in the opening frame, but missed several short-range shots. Punxsutawney, however, didn\’t miss and rode Martino\’s 11 first-quarter points to a 23-16 lead heading into the second quarter.
Punxsutawney was able to distance itself from the Lady Bisons in the second quarter. The Lady Chucks continued their hot shooting, while Clearfield was still searching for its offense.
Martino scored 10 points in the second quarter as the Lady Chucks outscored Clearfield 18-7 to take a commanding 41-23 lead into intermission.
Clearfield could have hung its head with an 18-point halftime deficit. However, the Lady Bisons showed no signs of giving in and scored 32 second-half points to make it a game. Clearfield got its offense untracked in the third quarter, but Martino would take the spotlight in the early portions.
\”That was a big part of it,\” Castagnolo said of the Lady Bisons\’ play. \”We played with a lot of individuality tonight. That\’s not our style. We\’ll have to talk about it. We couldn\’t stop Martino. It seemed we were a step behind all night.\”
Martino scored on four consecutive layups to start the second half and eclipsed a scoring milestone in the process. Martino\’s layup with 6:37 left in the third quarter not only gave Punxsutawney a 45-23 lead, it put Martino into the 1,000-point club. Martino finished the third quarter with 12 points.
Sopic led Clearfield\’s second-half charge by scoring 12 of her 18 points over the final two quarters. But it wouldn\’t be enough as Clearfield trailed 62-35 heading into the final quarter of play.
Clearfield\’s longtime center scored on three layups and hit two foul shots for eight fourth-quarter points. Howell and Collins found their 3-point shooting touch as each guard hit one shot from long range as Clearfield outscored Punxsutawney 20-10.
\”You have to give the kids credit. They could have lost by 40, but they came back and outscored them 20-10 in the fourth quarter with all the starters in the game,\” said Castagnolo.
Punxsutawney – 72
Reitz 1 0-0 3, Martino 18 1-3 37, Wehler 4 0-0 8, Paulina 1 0-0 2, Coppella 3 1-2 8, Pennington 2 0-0 6, Toven 2 0-0 4, Neal 2 0-0 4, Parise 0 0-0 0. Totals: 33 2-5 72.
Clearfield – 55
Howell 3 0-0 7, Collins 4 2-2 11, Jordan 3 4-5 11, M. Janocko 0 0-0 0, E. Sopic 6 6-6 18, A. Janocko 1 0-0 2, Luzier 0 3-4 3, M. Sopic 0 0-1 0, Byerly 0 0-0 0, Ryan 1 0-0 3, Colesar 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 15-18 55.
Score By Quarters
Punxsutawney 23 18 21 10 – 72
Clearfield 16 7 12 20 – 55
3-pointers: Punxsutawney 4 (Pennington 2, Reitz 1, Coppella 1); Clearfield 4 (Howell 1, Collins 1, Jordan 1, Ryan 1).