HYDE – The best college or professional basketball teams, men\’s or women\’s, would be hard-pressed to match the sizzling shooting display the DuBois Central Catholic Lady Cardinals put on at the outset of Friday night\’s 56-42 non-league win in the Clearfield Area High School.
And several of their shots were from NCAA and NBA range.
The Lady Cardinals scorched the Arthur J. Weiss Gym nets with eight field goals in their first 10 shots, including four from beyond the three-point line, to build leads of 8-0, 17-2 and 20-6 in the first 5:09.
Falling behind that much that quickly was the one thing the reeling Lady Bisons didn\’t need after Wednesday\’s emotionally-draining, after-the-buzzer, 56-55 loss to DuBois.
\”We’re a notoriously slow starting team this year and when they (opponents) don’t miss, we’re really in a deep hole,\” coach Joey Castagnolo said after Clearfield\’s sixth loss in a row. \”And it\’s hard to climb out.\”
The Lady Bisons, who were down 38-22 at the half, made a run at the visitors in the third quarter, closing to within 40-33 with 2:58 left, but they couldn\’t maintain that momentum and fell behind 44-34 entering the final period.
Any comeback hopes ended when Andrea Moyer and Molly Yebernetsky opened the fourth quarter two more three-pointers.
Nine of the Lady Cardinals\’ 22 field goals were treys, including three each by Yebernetsky and Meagan Thomas from outside and two by Moyer from the left corner.
Thomas scored 13 points, all in the first half, while Yebernetsky and Moyer added 11 and 10, respectively.
\”I didn\’t even know where (Thomas) came from, to tell you the truth,\” Castagnolo said. \”She was shooting NBA threes. I told the kids they aren\’t going to hurt us out there, and she sure did. My hat\’s off to that girl.
\”And did you see how far out Yebernetsky was? It\’s not that our defense was bad. It\’s just, holy heck, you can\’t go all the way out there.\”
While the Lady Cardinals were firing over the Clearfield 3-2 zone at a 9-for-16 pace in the first quarter, the Lady Bisons hit only four of 15 shots and wound up on the short end of a 22-8 count.
Back-to-back three-pointers by Angela Moore and Sarah Kovalick got the deficit under double figures, 24-16, early in the second period, but fast-break layups by Miller Hopkins and Thomas and long treys by Thomas and Yebernetsky made it 34-16 with 2:17 left in the half.
The Lady Cardinals headed to the locker room at intermission with seven treys among their 15 field goals in 34 attempts.
The third quarter was a different story.
\”We changed defenses at halftime,\” Castagnolo said. \”We just talked about moving and talking, and we did an excellent job. Then, I think we just got tired in the fourth quarter.\”
Castagnolo\’s strategy of extending the zone took away DCC\’s outside shooting, and Clearfield started chipping away at the Lady Cardinal lead. A 7-0 run on two baskets by Elizabeth Peters and another three by Kovalick got the hosts to within seven.
With a little over a minute left in the third period, Clearfield had a golden opportunity to make it a six-point game but missed a fast-break layup. Hopkins grabbed one of her 10 rebounds to trigger a DCC fast break that Yebernetsky finished, a swing of four points.
\”We\’re down 10, and that deflated us,\” Castagnolo said. \”That was the play of the game.\”
The Lady Cardinals (8-6) salted away their third consecutive win by scoring the first nine points of the fourth quarter.
Led by Hopkins, DCC posted a 36-19 bulge in rebounds.
\”She dominated us inside,\” Castagnolo praised the 5-10 freshman. \”She altered our shots.\”
Peters was the lone Lady Bison in double figures with 15 points, matching her career-high in the previous game.
\”DuBois was her breakout game, and she followed it up with another outstanding effort,\” Castagnolo said of his 5-9 sophomore.
The Lady Bisons, who were without injured guard Madison Sopic for the third game, shot only 28.3 percent (15-for 53).
After their hot start, the Lady Cardinals wound up shooting 37.3 percent (22-for-59).
Clearfield (4-10) plays at St. Marys Tuesday in its lone game next week.
In the junior varsity game, DuBois Central Catholic prevailed 46-33 behind 12 points by Megan Witherow of Curwensville. Amber Byerly scored 10 points while Kovalick and Kristen McKenzie each had nine for Clearfield.
DUBOIS CENTRAL CATHOLIC — 56
Andrea Moyer 4 0-0 10, Nicole Braun 2 1-2 5, Molly Yebernetsky 4 0-0 11, Meagan Thomas 5 0-0 13, Miller Hopkins 3 1-2 7, Rachel O\’Connor 2 0-0 4, Megan Witherow 1 0-0 3, Elizabeth Heasley 1 1-2 3, Alex Goldbach 0 0-0 0, Gabby Saldutte 0 0-0 0, Erin Fuller 0 0-0 0, Kim Cadori 0 0-0 0, Julie Larkin 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 22 3-6 56.
CLEARFIELD — 42
Angela Moore 1 0-0 3, Jayme Ryan 1 2-2 4, Elizabeth Peters 6 3-4 15, Annie Janocko 1 2-2 4, Gwenn Porter 0 0-0 0, Alanna Luzier 2 0-0 5, Sarah Kovalick 2 0-2 6, Amber Byerly 2 1-2 5, Kristen McKenzie 0 0-0 0, Lori Zalno 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 15 8-12 42.
Three-Point Field Goals: DuBois CC 9 (Yebernetsky 3, Thomas 3, Moyer 2, Witherow 1); Clearfield 4 (Kovalick 2, Moore 1, Luzier 1).
Score by Quarters
DuBois CC 22 16 6 12 – 56
Clearfield 8 14 12 8 – 42
Officials: Marvin Martell, Lee Martell, Mike Thal.
