HYDE – Jayme Ryan hit a wide-open three-pointer from the right side with 11 seconds remaining to give Clearfield a thrilling 35-33 victory over Harmony in a non-league girls basketball game in Arthur J. Weiss Gymnasium Monday night.
After leading for more than 28 minutes, the Lady Bisons needed big plays from Ryan and junior classmate Gwenn Porter in the final 50 seconds of the Senior Night nail-biter for their first three-game winning streak since February, 2007.
Sarah Kovalick, one of three seniors honored prior to the tip-off, popped in a shot from short range to give Clearfield a 27-22 lead less than a minute into what turned out to be a see-saw fourth quarter.
Then, the Lady Bisons went more than four minutes without scoring, and the Lady Owls took advantage.
Megan Brink sparked the visitors with one of her several drives from the right wing to the base line and to the basket, and Kierstyn Kruise found Lindsay Neff free under the hoop for an easy two.
Fouled on putback attempts, Brink and Neff canned the front end of two-shot opportunities to give Harmony its first lead, 28-27, with 3:11 to play.
Lady Bison senior Annie Janocko and Brink traded free throws before Brink made a difficult shot right under the basket after another strong drive along the right baseline for a 31-28 edge with 1:17 left.
The Lady Owls, headed for the District 6 Class A Playoffs at 12-5, seemed poised to avenge their December 53-39 loss to the Lady Bisons when they rebounded the next Clearfield shot.
However, Porter had other ideas.
The scrappy point guard leaped to pick off a Lady Owl pass near mid-court and went the distance for a driving layup contested from behind by Alyson Leyo. An intentional foul was called, and Porter calmly sank both shots to put Clearfield in front 32-31 with 42.5 seconds showing on the clock.
\”Porter took over,\” Lady Bison coach Joey Castagnolo said. \”She did an excellent job on defense. She got that steal. And I thought it (intentional foul) was the right call.
\”Talk about gutty. After making the layup and getting flattened, she stepped up there and made the two foul shots.\”
Clearfield retained possession but couldn\’t get the insurance basket, and Harmony grabbed two offensive rebounds at the other end, Alaina Westover cashing hers with a putback for a 33-32 lead with 25 seconds remaining.
The Lady Bisons pushed the ball up the floor, and Ryan responded to the challenge on the open look after a Lady Owl defender fell down.
Castagnolo almost took the ball out of her hands.
\”I was just ready to call timeout right when she shot, cause there was like 15.7 seconds left,\” he said. \”Then I saw it her hands, and she has the green light. And she made it.
\”I\’m just happy with the outcome. We\’ve lost some games we should have won. This game, maybe we could have lost, but we refused to lose there at the end.\”
Leyo, whose 13-point, 13-rebound effort was matched by Neff, got off a shot in traffic in the waning seconds but it was off the mark.
Both teams struggled for points most of the night, Clearfield making 12 of 49 shots for 24.5 percent and Harmony hitting only 11 of 51 attempts for 21.6 percent.
The Lady Bisons banked the first seven points as the Lady Owls missed seven shots and had five turnovers before Leyo tossed in a jumper in the lane with 1:07 left in the first quarter.
Clearfield opened the second period with a 9-4 run for its biggest lead, 16-8, with 2:51 to go in the half. Neff\’s two free throws and Leyo\’s peep on a nice feed from Makenzie Kruise set the count at 16-12 at intermission.
Points were at a premium in the second half, with the Lady Owls keeping it close by penetrating the Lady Bison 1-3-1 zone and pounding the boards.
\”They found our weakness in the third and fourth quarters,\” Castagnolo said. \”We\’ll take the win, but I wasn\’t happy with the way we played defense that second half. We\’ve got to make some adjustments. The first half was beautiful.
\”We still weren\’t getting rebounds. We were in position, but they all seemed like they were long. I tried moving people around, but we still couldn\’t get them.\”
Ryan paced Clearfield\’s balanced offense with eight points. Kovalick and junior Amber Byerly, who fouled out with 3:11 left, had six rebounds apiece.
\”We were a little flat,\” Castagnolo said. \”They were awfully emotional about Senior Night.
\”But we still won. That\’s a good team, too. That team didn\’t quit. I can see why they won 12 games.\”
Jocelyn Schultz, who missed last season because of a knee injury, is the third Clearfield senior. She got her first start.
The Lady Bisons return to District 9 League play Friday at home against Brookville.
In the prelim, Julie Ammerman scored 13 points and Lori Zalno added 10 as the Clearfield junior varsity won 36-24. Katie Novella topped Harmony with nine points.
HARMONY — 33
Alyson Leyo 5 3-6 13, Megan Brink 4 5-10 13, Lindsay Neff 1 3-3 5, Makenzie Kruise 0 0-0, Alaina Westover 1 0-0 2, Kierstyn Kruise 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 11 11-19 33.
CLEARFIELD — 35
Annie Janocko 2 1-4 5, Sarah Kovalick 2 2-2 7, Jocelyn Schultz 0 0-0 0, Jayme Ryan 3 0-0 8, Gwenn Porter 2 2-2 6, Amber Byerly 2 2-6 6, Madison Sopic 1 1-2 3, Elizabeth Peters 0 0-0 0, Angela Moore 0 0-0 0, Lori Zalno 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 12 8-16 35.
Three-Point Field Goals: Clearfield 3 (Kovalick 1, Ryan 2).
Score by Quarters:
Harmony 4 8 10 11 – 33
Clearfield 7 9 9 10 – 35
Officials: Bill Zupich, Rusty McCracken, Rev. Eric Vogt.
