PUNXSUTAWNEY – What a difference two days can make. After playing sloppy, inconsistent basketball on Wednesday in a win over arch rival Curwensville the Clearfield Lady Bisons defeated Punxsutawney 45-42 for the first time in seven years last night. As a matter of fact it was the first win Clearfield coach Joey Castagnolo has picked up over the Lady Chucks head coach Randy Reitz. It was only the second District 9 game that coach Reitz has lost and the first at home.
The win wasn’t lost at all on coach Castagnolo as he said afterwards, “ What a special night it was. It just feels super. Punxsy’s program has always seemed a step ahead of us. Now I think we are right there with them.”
Clearfield got it’s offense going very early and scored the most points in one quarter on the evening in the first frame. After one the Lady Bisons were up 14-12. Sophomore Jayme Ryan and Alanna Luzier, a senior each had five points in the first.
The Lady Chucks turned the tables on the Clearfield girls in the second quarter by outscoring the visitors 10-9 and cutting the margin to one at the half, 23-22. Emily Thompson, a senior, who later fouled out, paced Punxsy with 8 second quarter points. Thompson finished the night leading her team with fourteen points
Clearfield didn’t back down however as they outplayed and out hustled the Lady Chucks in taking the third frame 13-9 to pull out in front by six points after three quarters. The Lady Bisons had five players tickle the twine in the period to produce a very balanced offense. They did squander an 11 point lead in the quarter as the Chucks made a late run. The question now was could the young Bisons keep their poise and play under control for eight more minutes?
Punxsy came out in the final stanza determined to over take Clearfield by outscoring them 13-9. The margin just wasn’t enough though. Foul shooting would be the key to victory for Clearfield as they shot 3 for 5 in the fourth and 6 for 10 on the evening. Each team dumped in five three pointers with Ryan having three for Clearfield and Jube Parise the same for Punxsy. On the night Ryan had 14 to lead the Lady Bisons while Luzier scored 12. The Lady Chucks had two other players with double digits besides Thompson as Parise added 11 and Allie Miller dumped in 10.
Castagnolo was truly pleased with his team’s defensive performance and stated such, “ I can’t say enough about our defense tonight. We really frustrated Punxsy and disrupted their offense much of the time. It was truly a total team effort.”
The Clearfield junior varsity picked up a close exciting win, 34-33, under assistant coach Jerry Stewart.
The Lady Bisons will next will entertain a very good Elk County Catholic team on Monday at home. The junior varsity game starts at 6:00 PM with the varsity set to tip off at 7:30.
CLEARFIELD – Jayme Ryan 5 1-2 14, Alanna Luzier 5 0-1 12, Annie Janocko 1 4-4 6, Madison Sopic 1 0-0 2, Elizabeth Peters 1 1-3 3, Amber Byerly 4 0-0 8, Angela Moore 0 0-0 0 and Gwenn Porter 0 0-0 0.
TOTALS – 17 6-10 45.
PUNXSUTAWNEY – Emily Thompson 4 4-6 14, Jube Parise 4 0-0 11, Lauren Janocha 1 2-2 4, Allie Miller 4 2-4 10, Amana Toven 0 0-0 0, Jenna Reitz 1 1-1 3 and Ashley Craig 0 0-0 0.
TOTALS – 14 9-13 42
SCORE BY QUARTERS;
CLEARFIELD 14 9 13 9 45
PUNXSUTAWNEY 12 10 8 12 42
THREE POINT FIELD GOALS – Clearfield – 5 – Ryan 3 and Luzier 2. Punxsutawney – 5 -Parise 3 and Thompson 2.