HYDE – The Clearfield Lady Bisons awoke from their recurring nightmares of seeing potential wins turn into losses in the second halves of three games in four days to defeat nemesis Punxsutawney 34-27 on the Arthur J. Weiss Gymnasium hardwood Wednesday night.
Ahead 18-14 at intermission of the District 9 League game, coach Joey Castagnolo\’s team appeared headed for a one-point third quarter when Annie Janocko provided the wake-up call with a three-pointer from long range that just beat the buzzer and reclaimed the lead at 22-21.
On a sideline in-bounds play with 2.7 seconds left, the senior forward grabbed the entry pass as she broke into the frontcourt, took one dribble, stopped and drained what would have been a long NBA three-pointer.
Just the way it was drawn up, according to Castagnolo.
\”We knew what we had to do there,\” he said.
Then, the Lady Bisons made their next five shots, one by each starter, for a 12-3 run that made it 34-24 midway through the fourth quarter.
Missed shots and turnovers plagued both teams in the final 4:02, the only points coming on Amber Fye\’s trey for the Lady Chucks with 1:27 remaining, and the Lady Bisons finally were able to smile after ending a four-game losing streak with their first homecourt win over Punxsy in eight years.
\”We really needed this one in a lot of ways,\” Castagnolo said. \”We got over that psychological hump of blowing another game. Now we\’re happy.
\”Those last three games we lost, we could have won. This game, I think, is going to get us on a roll.\”
The Lady Bisons must build off of their fifth win in 13 games in order to reach Castagnolo\’s goal of a home game in the first round of the District 9 Class AAA Playoffs. Clearfield and Punxsy (5-10) are tied at 3-4, and the league record is the first tie-breaker. St. Marys (6-1) has all but clinched the top seed.
Another loss would have been devastating for the Lady Bisons, but they responded to the challenge by playing good defense and overcoming 21 turnovers with 40.6 percent (12-for-32) shooting, including six three-pointers in 13 attempts.
Clearfield jumped in front 5-0 with 1:28 gone on Madison Sopic\’s jumper in the lane and Sarah Kovalick\’s trey from the left wing, but Punxsy went on a 10-2 run highlighted by point guard Jenna Reitz\’s pair of three-pointers.
The Lady Chucks came up with six steals in the first period as their tight man defense took its toll on the Lady Bisons.
The low-scoring pace continued in the second period, with Clearfield\’s 9-2 advantage in the last six minutes of the half producing the four-point edge at the break.
Though the Lady Bisons failed to score in the third quarter until Gwenn Porter made a foul shot with 1:49 left, the Lady Chucks were unable to capitalize as they went missed nine of 12 shots.
Clearfield didn\’t pass up its opportunity to take command when Punxsy\’s shooting woes continued in the fourth period.
Porter ignited the Lady Bisons\’ surge with a tough driving layup, Janocko hit from outside for three, Sopic nailed a foul line jumper, Jayme Ryan buried a trey from the outside and Kovalick added a deuce for the 10-point lead.
Though two Lady Bisons didn\’t convert in one-and-one situations at the foul line, the Lady Chucks were unable to rally.
\”I thought we had timely threes that really made the difference,\” Castagnolo said. \”It used to be we\’d just fire the three up. Now, we\’re starting to be particular when we shoot the three.
\”We played defense really well, and played a lot better with poise, especially on their press. We didn\’t get rattled.\”
High scorers were Janocko and Kovalick with eight points apiece for Clearfield and Reitz with nine for Punxsy, which outrebounded the Lady Bisons 31-23. Reitz had three of the Lady Chucks\’ four treys.
Clearfield faces another key league test Friday at Bradford.
The Clearfield junior varsity lost 25-17 in the prelim. Rachel Thompson scored six points. Megan McCully and Shawnna Crago had eight apiece for Punxsy.
PUNXSUTAWNEY — 27
Jenna Reitz 3 0-0 9, Lauren Janocha 1 0-0 2, Brittany Baker 2 0-2 4, Amanda Toven 0 0-0 0, Allie Miller 0 5-6 5, Megan McCully 2 0-0 4, Amber Fye 1 0-0 3, Shawnna Crago 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 9 5-8 27.
CLEARFIELD — 34
Annie Janocko 3 0-0 8, Sarah Kovalick 3 0-0 8, Jayme Ryan 1 0-0 3, Madison Sopic 3 2-3 7, Gwenn Porter 2 1-3 6, Amber Byerly 0 0-0 0, Elizabeth Peters 1 0-0 2, Lori Zalno 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 13 2-6 34.
Three-Point Field Goals: Punxsutawney 4 (Reitz 3, Fye 1); Clearfield 6 (Janocko 2, Kovalick 2, Ryan 1, Porter 1).
Score by Quarters:
Punxsutawney 10 4 7 6 – 27
Clearfield 7 11 4 12 – 34
Officials: Kenny Knepp, Bud Brennan, George Schneider.