HYDE – A slow start by the Clearfield Area High School girls basketball team turned into a great start for the 2007-08 season Friday night in Weiss Gym.
After failing to net a field goal in the first quarter, the Lady Bisons outscored Bald Eagle Area 36-24 in the middle two periods and opened a 15-point lead early in the fourth quarter before settling for a 56-49 win in the first round of the Lady Bison Basketball Blast-Off Tournament.
Clearfield will try to make it back-to-back championships in Saturday\’s five o\’clock title game against Hanover, which zoomed to a 17-0 start en route to a 54-44 victory over DuBois Central Catholic in the tourney opener.
BEA and DCC will tip off the consolation game at 3:30.
Foul shooting, rebounding and defense were the keys for Clearfield being able to overcome its early shooting woes.
The Lady Bisons, who were led by Jayme Ryan\’s 18 points, cashed 23 of 37 trips to the foul line to offset the Lady Eagles\’ 19-15 advantage from the floor. On 14 occasions, the Lady Bisons were fouled in the act of shooting as they constantly were driving to the basket or working the ball inside.
Clearfield was only 6-for-12 at the stripe in the first quarter, but those points kept BEA from establishing a huge lead. With junior center Danielle Reese in early foul trouble, Kathryn Hoover picked up the slack with a trio of field goals to pace the Eagles to a 14-6 lead.
\”We started with opening day jitters,\” coach Joey Castagnolo said of his predominately-sophomore team. \”I’ve been doing this for nine years, and this is the first year that I really noticed the girls were really nervous. I thought Alanna (Luzier) and Annie (Janocko) settled them down after a while.\”
The Lady Bisons finally pulled even at 18-18 when Luzier drove across the lane to make a tough runner with 3:32 remaining in the half. Two minutes later, Angela Moore converted a pass from Amber Byerly for a short-lived 20-18 edge. BEA was on top 22-21 at intermission.
\”At halftime when we were only losing by one point, I just thought it’s going to be our game in the second half,\” Castagnolo said. \”We just said, \’Relax girls and play our style of game.\’ And we did. That third quarter run, that’s our style. And Jayme finally got hot. Hey, you want to keep feeding the shooter. She has to carry us. She’s a shooter.\”
Ryan drilled three-pointers from the top of the key and the right corner and Luzier sparkled with her ball handling, playmaking, penetration and end-to-end hustle as the Lady Bisons went on a 20-2 run that transformed a 24-21 deficit into a 41-26 bulge in just over four minutes.
Luzier ignited and punctuated the blitz with nifty passes to Elizabeth Peters and Byerly and also chipped in four points. Janocko put Clearfield in front to stay at 27-26 with a spinning, left-handed scoop for the first of 16 consecutive points by the Lady Bisons.
The Lady Eagles, who got 13 points from Hoover and 11 from Reese, never got closer than seven points the rest of the way.
\”I thought the difference was rebounding,\” Castagnolo said. \”We did an excellent job. We did real well boxing out, getting a lot of defensive rebounds and running the floor. Our defense triggered our offensive explosion. We played team defense real well.\”
The Lady Bisons forced the Lady Eagles into 28 turnovers and had a deceiving 43-36 edge in rebounds, with Peters and Janocko pulling down 12 and 11, respectively. BEA narrowed the gap by crashing the boards hard in the final period.
\”Those two posts down low just did the job tonight,\” Castagnolo said. \”That No. 23 (Reese) is a leaper, and I thought Annie did an excellent job boxing her out and keeping her neutralized. Annie’s an undersized post, but she sure is quick. She knows how to box out. And she plays smart.\”
Peters and Luzier wound up with nine points apiece. Luzier also had four assists.
Chelsea Kehr, who made the Lady Bison Blast-Off All-Tournament Team last year, was the star in Hanover\’s win.
The 5-6 playmaker showed why she was a York Area Interscholastic Athletic Association Sections 3 and 4 second-team all-star by scoring 26 points, continually dribbling through and around the DuBois Central Catholic pressure defense and creating problems for the Lady Cardinal guards with her quickness.
Kehr netted three field goals, one a three-pointer, as the Lady Nighthawks stunned the DCC with 17 points in the first 4:13.
The Lady Cardinals didn\’t fold, though, and closed to within four points, 25-21, with 1:35 left in the half, but fell behind 30-23 at the break. They made it very interesting early in the third quarter, trimming the Hanover lead to 32-31 with 2:40 gone.
However, the Lady Nighthawks went on a 13-1 run in the next three minutes and maintained at least a four-point lead in the low-scoring fourth period.
Senior Andrea Moyer fueled DCC\’s first-half comeback with nine of her 13 points. Freshman Megan Witherow of Curwensville came off the bench late in the second and third quarters to score 13 points, including a pair of three-pointers.
In junior varsity action, Clearfield used a strong second half to down Bald Eagle Area 46-33. Gwen Porter scored 18 points and Byerly added 10 for the Lady Bisons, who will play DuBois Central Catholic at two o\’clock Saturday.
BALD EAGLE AREA — 49
Brittany Simpson 3 0-0 6, Brittany Butterworth 2 1-2 5, Carly Kristofik 1 0-0 2, Kathryn Hoover 5 3-6 13, Danielle Reese 4 3-5 11, Alissa Morgan 1 0-0 2, Margaret Rougeux 2 2-2 6, Maggie Meek 0 0-0 0, Kendra Giedroc 0 0-0 0, Kyle Wozniak 0 0-0 0, Anne Hoover 1 2-3 4. Totals: 19 11-19 49.
CLEARFIELD — 56
Jayme Ryan 4 7-7 18, Alanna Luzier 2 5-11 9, Annie Janocko 1 5-6 7, Madison Sopic 2 1-3 5, Elizabeth Peters 3 3-6 9, Gwen Porter 0 0-0 0, Amber Byerly 1 0-0 2, Angela Moore 2 1-2 5, Sarah Kovalick 0 1-2 1. Totals: 15 23-37 56.
Three-Point Field Goals: Clearfield 3 (Ryan 3).
Score by Quarters:
Bald Eagle Area 14 8 21 13 — 49
Clearfield 6 15 10 11 — 56
Officials – Marvin Martell, Lee Martell, Tim Barnes.
* * * * *
DUBOIS CENTRAL CATHOLIC — 54
Andrea Moyer 5 3-4 13, Rachel O\’Connor 1 0-0 2, Nicole Braun 1 0-0 3, Molly Yebernetsky 3 0-0 7, Meagan Thomas 1 0-0 2, Alex Goldbach 0 0-0 0, Miller Hopkins 1 0-2 2, Gabby Saldutte 0 0-0 0, Elizabeth Heasley 0 2-2 2, Jordan Myers 0 0-0 0, Megan Witherow 5 1-2 13, Joanna Fitzer 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 17 6-10 44.
HANOVER — 44
Chelsea Kehr 10 4-8 26, Jamie Frey 1 3-4 5, Jordan Beans 5 38-8 13, Nikki Day 2 2-2 6, Nicole Cookerly 1 0-0 2, Allison Frederick 0 0-2 0, Colette Weaver 1 0-0 2, Dona Tolic 0 0-0 0. Devon Barnes 0 0-0 0, Kaitlyn Naill 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20 12-24 54.
Three-Point Field Goals: DuBois CC 4 (Witherow 2, Braun, Yebernetsky); Hanover 2 (Kehr 2).
Score by Quarters:
DuBois CC 11 12 14 6 — 44
Hanover 11 9 16 8 — 54
Officials – Rich Gormont, Gary Dauber, Buddy Johnson.
