BRADFORD — Coach Joey Castagnolo figured defensive rebounds would be the key to his Clearfield Area High School girls basketball team\’s success against Bradford in their District 9 Class AAA semifinal Tuesday evening.
The Lady Bisons held their own under the defensive boards, but the figures they posted on offense proved to be their downfall, eight points in the first half and 27 for the game with just 11 field goals in 59 shots.
Castagnolo could only shake his head as he digested the numbers after second-seeded Bradford (18-6) defeated third-seeded Clearfield 36-27 for a berth in the 9-AAA championship game against Punxsutawney (18-5) Saturday night at Clarion University.
\”We\’ve scored eight points in a minute,\” he said after the Lady Bisons fell to 14-10. \”That\’s where we lost that, in that first half. I\’m so disappointed. We\’ve scored 27 points in a quarter this year. I don\’t know if their defense was that great or we were our own worst enemy.\”
Scoring droughts of more than seven minutes in each half doomed the Lady Bisons, who thrived on their running game and three-point shooting in lighting up the scoreboard for 50 or more points 17 times this season. The only run they had was nine points in a row that pulled them into an 18-18 tie with 2:52 left in the third quarter.
Elizabeth Sopic was fouled on a baby hook, her lone field goal, and Brooke Jordan was hacked on a difficult, lefthanded layup for conventional three-point plays and Jordan followed with another strong drive to the basket to inject new life into a team that had experienced nothing but futility for nearly 20 minutes.
\”And then they went on an 8-0 run,\” Castagnolo said. \”And we just let them do whatever they wanted. We didn\’t even get a shot. We didn\’t take care of the ball when we should have. I don\’t know if we relaxed a little bit, cause we climbed that big mountain and we got even. And then I don\’t know if we got soft. I don\’t know.\”
Actually, the Lady Owls reeled off a dozen unanswered points, eight by Whitney Cline, as they extended their run into the fourth quarter. The senior center, who joined the 1,000-Point Club earlier this season, triggered the game-deciding run by posting up for a layup, flipping in a short baseline jumper and cashing Katie White\’s assist on a fast break and then capped it with another layup to make it 30-18 with 5:27 left.
When Nikki Collins found a cutting Julianna Howell on a fast break for Clearfield\’s first points in 7:37, only 4:45 remained. Howell added two more field goals and Collins finally found the range from beyond the arc with 32 seconds left for the Lady Bisons\’ only three-pointer in 14 attempts.
In the first half, when it seemed neither team could find any rhythm against active, pressure defenses, Clearfield made only three of 29 shots against the Bradford man-to-man that minimized good three-point opportunities. The Lady Owls weren\’t faring much better against the Lady Bisons\’ 3-2 zone that was sagging around Cline but managed to take a 14-8 halftime lead.
After Jordan\’s fast-break layup made it 6-3 at the 4:09 mark of the first quarter, Clearfield went 7:21 without a point.
\”Our game plan, instead of coming out in our customary defense, was sagging on Cline, and we had \’em frustrated,\” Castagnolo said. \”We just didn\’t capitalize when we had the basketball.
\”The second half, we battled them. The kids didn\’t quit. We worked hard. But they\’re a patient team and we started losing our patience because we want to keep moving, we want to get running. That\’s our nature, and that probably played into their hands, because it frustrated us.\”
Cline scored a game-high 16 points for the Lady Owls, who won their 11th consecutive home game of the season. Nicole Siffrinn, who Castagnolo considers the best point guard in the District 9 League, added nine.
Jordan had nine points for the Lady Bisons, who lost senior forward Mallory Janocko to a knee injury early in the second period. She had gone down in the first period, too. Howell also went to the bench twice, once for slamming into a wall hustling for a loose ball.
Bradford hit 19 of 50 shots for 38 percent, more than doubling Clearfield\’s 18.6 percentage. The Lady Owls had a 25-16 rebounding edge. Their 17 turnovers were four more than the Lady Bisons had.
CLEARFIELD — 27
Julianna Howell 3 1-2 7, Nikki Collins 1 0-0 3, Brooke Jordan 4 1-1 9, Mallory Janocko 0 0-0 0, Elizabeth Sopic 1 2-3 4, Annie Janocko 2 0-0 4, Amber Byerly 0 0-0 0, Alanna Luzier 0 0-0 0, Jayme Ryan 0 0-0 0. Totals: 11 4-6 27.
BRADFORD — 36
Nicole Siffrin 4 1-4 9, Whitney Cline 8 0-0 16, Katie White 1 0-0 2, Tricia Copeland 0 0-0 0, Shelly Fuhrman 2 2-2 7, Kayla Murphey 1 0-0 2, Britani VanScoter 0 0-0 0, Meghan Perschke 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 3-6 36.
Three-Point Fieldl Goals: Clearfield 1 (Collins); Bradford 1 (Fuhrman).
Score by Quarters:
Clearfield 3 5 10 9 — 27
Bradford 8 6 12 10 — 36