CLEARFIELD – A furious late fourth quarter comeback gave the Clearfield Lady Bisons a hard fought 41-36 victory over the visiting Curwensville Lady Tide Wednesday evening. The win sends Clearfield’s record to 2-1 while the Lady Tide go to 0-2.
Head coach Joey Castagnolo talked about the fourth quarter rally saying, “When the game was on the line in the fourth quarter we realized we needed to play defense. We switched from a zone to full court man-to-man and it really paid off.” Castagnolo added, “We made some big shots in the final quarter due to us finally being more patient on offense.”
The first half was loaded with numerous turnovers by both squads but neither team could take advantage of the other’s mistakes. Clearfield found itself up 8-4 after the first stanza and 16-15 at the break.
Curwensville came out in the third quarter and put the first 16 minutes clearly behind them while outscoring the Lady Bisons 14-7 to go up 29-23 with 8 minutes to play. Lady Tide Holly Fink had 6 in the third period while Hannah Walls dropped in 5 to pace Curwensville. On the night Walls led all scorers with 13. Fink chipped in with 10 with Alesia Bressler adding 8.
Then it was Clearfield’s turn to turn up the heat. The Lady Bisons kept chipping away at the Tide’s lead and when it was over they gained a 18-7 fourth quarter edge to win by five. Clearfield’s Madison Sopic paced the fourth quarter rally with 6 points. In all eight Clearfield girls scored with senior Alanna Luzier pacing the way with 10. Sopic finished with 8 while Jayme Ryan and Annie Janocko each had 7.
Lady Tide coach Vic Gearhart said afterwards, “ We were disappointed that we didn’t come away with the win because we did have our chances. Down the stretch our shot selection wasn’t good but we will certainly take some positives from this game and move on.” Gearhart also added, “ That is however the difference between a seasoned team and one without experience.”
Castagnolo mentioned that, “ Vic really had his girls ready to play. I was a little surprised that they came out in a man defense.”
The Lady Tide continued their quality free throw shooting going 8 for 10 while Clearfield was 7 for 17 from the charity stripe.
Clearfield easily won the junior varsity game 52-15. Both teams are back in action Friday night as Curwensville entertains Elk County Catholic and Clearfield travels to Punxsutawney. Tip-off is set for 7:30 for both contests.
CURWENSVILLE – Mindy Desmett 0 0-0 0, Hannah Walls 4 3-4 13, Tess Bloom 2 1-2 5, Holly Fink 4 2-2 8, Alesia Bressler 3 2-2 8, Jenessa Stiles 0 0-0 0 and Jenae Stiles 0 0-0 0.
TOTALS – 13 8-10 36
CLEARFIELD – Angela Moore 1 0-2 2, Jayme Ryan 3 0-0 7, Alanna Luzier 4 1-2 10, Annie Janocko 1 5-8 7, Elizabeth peters 1 1-4 3, Madison Sopic 4 0-1 8, Amber Byerly 1 0-0 2, Gwenn Porter 1 0-0 2 and Sarah Kovalick 0 0-0 0.
TOTALS – 16 7-17 41
THREE POINTERS – Curwensville – Walls 2. Clearfield – Ryan and Luzier.
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
CURWENSVILLE 4 11 14 7 36
CLEARFIELD 8 8 7 18 41