HYDE – Win or lose, the 2008-09 Clearfield Area High School girls cagers make the games exciting for their fans.
Again Friday night in Arthur J. Weiss Gymnasium, they left their followers alternately yelling and holding their breath as they went down to the wire against Brookville before escaping with a 42-38 overtime victory in a key District 9 League scrap.
After leading most of the way, only to have the Lady Raiders stave off defeat on Morgan Castle\’s steal and driving layup with 12.6 seconds remaining during regulation, the Lady Bisons regrouped to shut out the visitors in the extra period and prevail on two free throws by Sarah Kovalick and one each by Annie Janocko and Amber Byerly.
The Lady Bisons saw several games slip away under similar circumstances earlier this season, but they\’ve survived two pressure-packed scenarios this week, a 35-33 thriller over Harmony Monday night being the other.
The difference now?
\”Confidence,\” coach Joey Castagnolo exclaimed after the Lady Bisons balanced their record at 8-8 with their fourth win in a row. \”It just takes that one win, to come from behind, or to hold that lead.
\”We refused to lose again. The last couple games, it’s been Gwenn. (It was) the whole team tonight.\”
\”We had to win to stay ahead of Punxsy for that second (District 9 Class AAA) playoff spot. And I wanted to get to .500. It\’s been a struggle.\”
Clearfield claimed sole possession of third place in the league at 5-4 while Brookville (9-6) and Punxsy, which lost 45-32 to front-running Elk County Catholic Friday, dropped to 4-5.
Keys to the Lady Bisons avenging their 38-35 defeat at Brookville on Jan. 19, were balanced offense and tough defense.
Gwenn Porter flipped in a game-high 12 points, but Kovalick, Amber Byerly and Elizabeth Peters chimed in with eight apiece.
The Lady Bisons took away the Lady Raiders\’ inside game with their movement and hustle in their 1-3-1 zone, keeping the visitors scoreless the opening 5:51 and again for 5:26 in the second period.
Brookville\’s man-to-man defense was equally effective in the early going, and Clearfield had only five points in the hopper when Katie Reinsel netted the first Lady Raider point after six turnovers and three missed shots.
Kovalick provided the spark early with two steals and three rebounds.
A pair of three-pointers by Jessica Byerly gave the Lady Raiders their first lead, 7-6, with 1:10 left in the first quarter, but Porter wiped that out with a steal and layup that beat the buzzer by two-tenths of a second.
Consecutive field goals by Reinsel put Brookville ahead for the last time, 11-10, with 6:33 left in the half.
Clearfield tallied the next seven points, a trey by Jayme Ryan and two layups by Porter, one after grabbing a defensive rebound and the other on a nice feed by Amber Byerly.
Two baskets by Peters kept the Lady Bisons in front 21-16 at the half, and they extended the margin to 26-18 with 2:43 gone in the third quarter.
Then they had to withstand a barrage of three-pointers by the Lady Raiders. One by Castle and two by Brynna Hetrick made it a 28-27 game.
Defense was the name of the game after Clearfield entered the fourth quarter with a 32-29 edge, but Hetrick and Castle connected from long range again to keep Brookville close and boost its total of three-pointers to eight.
\”They\’re not a three-point shooting team,\” Castagnolo said. \”But we\’re big inside, and they can\’t dump it into the big girl (Janelle Mescall), so their whole philosophy changes when they play us. I didn\’t think they were as good of a three-point shooting team. They did a nice job.\”
The Lady Bisons went scoreless the final 3:10 in the fourth quarter, enabling the Lady Raiders to force overtime.
However, they missed six treys among their nine shots in the extra four minutes.
\”I can’t say enough about our defense,\” Castagnolo said. \”We buckled down in the last two minutes and the whole overtime. Stanley (Solarczyk), I can\’t give him enough credit. He\’s the defensive coordinator.\”
Clearfield had three misses from the field in overtime and converted only four of 10 free throws, but they were enough.
Kovalick put the Lady Bisons ahead to stay 13 seconds into the fifth period, and Janocko, Amber Byerly and Kovalick each hit the first of two foul shots in the final minute. Byerly tipped Janocko\’s miss and was fouled as she secured the rebound before giving Clearfield a 41-38 lead with 25.9 seconds left. Kovalick sealed it with 3.6 seconds on the clock.
\”I told them at the beginning of the game that a turnover here, a turnover there, or a rebound, a missed shot, it\’s all gonna be magnified because they\’re a good, disciplined ball club,\” Castagnolo said. \”They\’re a scrappy team. They\’re well-coached.
\”I just can’t say enough about everybody,\” he continued. \”The bench helped out, just to give these kids a break. Even though it\’s a zone, we\’re moving.\”
Clearfield shot 35 percent (14-for-40) and Brookville, which was led by Hetrick\’s 11 points, made 31 percent (14-for-45).
The Lady Raiders outrebounded the Lady Bisons 29-23 with Mescall pulling down 10 missed shots before fouling out in the final minute. Amber Byler had seven rebounds for Clearfield.
Up next for Clearfield are a road game against Johnsonburg Monday and the home finale against Elk County Catholic Tuesday. Clearfield lost 61-38 to the Ramettes in their season opener and 61-40 to the Lady Crusaders on Jan. 13.
Brookville won the junior varsity game 43-7.
District 9 League Standings:
Elk County Catholic 8-0, St. Marys 8-1, Clearfield 5-4, Brookville 4-5, Punxsutawney 4-5, Bradford 1-7, DuBois 1-9.
BROOKVILLE — 38
Jessica Byerly 3 0-0 9, Morgan Castle 3 0-0 8, Brynna Hetrick 4 0-2 11, Katie Reinsel 3 1-2 7, Janelle Mescall 1 1-4 3, Amanda Liebman 0 0-0 0, Alyssa Byerly 0 0-0 0, Amber Cook 0 0-0 0, Emily Ferraro 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 14 2-7 38.
CLEARFIELD — 42
Annie Janocko 1 1-2 3, Sarah Kovalick 2 3-6 8, Jayme Ryan 1 0-0 3, Gwenn Porter 4 4-5 12, Elizabeth Peters 4 0-0 8, Amber Byerly 2 4-8 8, Angela Moore 0 0-0 0, Lori Zalno 0 0-0 0, Madison Sopic 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 14 12-21 42.
Three-Point Field Goals: Brookville 8 (J. Byerly 3, Castle 2, Hetrick 3); Clearfield 2 (Kovalick 1, Ryan 1).
Score by Quarters:
Brookville 7 9 13 9 0 – 38
Clearfield 8 13 11 6 4 – 42
Officials: Barry Abbott, Scott Sullivan, Emory Faith.