CURWENSVILLE — The Clearfield girls basketball team broke open a close game late in the third period Monday night against the Lady Tide of Curwensville to pull out a 51-37 win.
The win gives the Lady Bisons, who have now won seven out of their last eight, a season record of 11-9. Curwensville, who continues to play hard and tough, now drops to 0-20 on the 2008-09 campaign.
Curwensville coach Vic Gearhart spoke about his teams toughness, “We played hard all night long. I am very proud of the effort these girls displayed tonight. After a tough loss Friday night this squad came back and gave Clearfield all they could handle. It’s difficult to match up athlete to athlete against them, but we did give everything we had. We just came up short.”
The Tide jumped out to a 5-0 lead before Clearfield scored on a free throw by Annie Janocko. Janocko on the night was a perfect eight for eight from the charity stripe.
Clearfield ended the first stanza on a 13-4 run to go into the second period with a 13-9 margin.
The second eight minutes was all about defense as both squads managed only six points each allowing Clearfield to maintain their four point margin at the half, 19-15.
In the opening frame of the second sixteen minutes the Lady Bisons extended their lead to 11 only to have the Lady Tide battle back to within four a few times. Tess Bloom, a Curwensville junior, did all she could to keep the Tide alive with eight of her game high 21 points coming in the third period.
It was not to be though, as Clearfield won the contest by outscoring their hosts 32-22 in the second half.
Sarah Kovalick of Clearfield paced the Lady Bisons with 12 points, all coming in the second half. Gwenn Porter had nine and Janocko, with only free throws, chipped in with eight.
Afterwards Clearfield coach Joey Castagnolo praised the effort of his opponent, “Curwensville is a very scrappy team. Vic (Gearhart) always has them ready to play.” Then he spoke about his team, “We came alive in the second half and started to hit our shots. I thought our conditioning helped us a lot tonight as we seem to be getting much better during this current streak.”
Hannah Walls helped teammate Bloom out in the scoring department as the senior picked up eight points.
Clearfield had a huge edge at the free throw line hitting on 16 of 26 while the Tide attempted just eight free throws, making four.
The Lady Bisons got fourteen points off of their bench while the Lady Tide had none.
The junior varsity contest was won by Clearfield 38-35. Angela Moore had 17 for Clearfield with Lori Zalno hitting for 11. The Lady Tide were lead by Courtney Bachelier and Savannah Strickland who each had 11.
Curwensville will return to the hardwood on Thursday when they host the Lady Vikings of Glendale. The Lady Tide lost 44-42 to Glendale earlier this season. Junior Varsity action starts at 6 pm with the varsity to immediately follow.
The Lady Bisons will make the trip to Punxsutawney on Wednesday night to meet up with the Lady Chucks, a team they have already defeated 34-27. The JV game will begin at 6 pm and the varsity will follow shortly thereafter.
Listen to Lady Bisons basketball this Wednesday on WOKW-FM, 102.9, with the pre-game starting shortly after 7 pm.
CLEARFIELD – Jayme Ryan 3 0-0 7, Gwenn Porter 3 3-4 9, Annie Janocko 0 8-8 8, Sarah Kovalick 4 1-2 12, Amber Byerly 0 1-6 1, Angela Moore 1 0-0 3, Lori Zalno 1 0-0 2, Madison Sopic 1 0-0 2, Elizabeth Peters 2 3-6 7, Kristen Butler 0 0-0 0, Jocelyn Schultz 0 0-0 0.
TOTALS – 15 16-26 51
CURWENSVILLE – Jenessa Stiles 1 0-0 2, Taylor Bumbarger 1 0-0 3, Hannah Walls 3 1-4 8, Tess Bloom 8 2-2 21, Alesia Bressler 1 1-2 3, Jenae Stiles 0 0-0 0, Sara Sidelinger 0 0-0 0, Courtney Bachelier 0 0-0 0, Shayla Buzard 0 0-0 0, Savannah Strickland 0 0-0 0.
TOTALS – 14 4-8 37
SCORE BY QUARTERS
CLEARFIELD 13 6 17 15 51
CURWENSVILLE 9 6 13 9 37
THREE POINTERS: CLEARFIELD – 5 Kovalick 3, Ryan 1, Moore 1. CURWENSVILLE – 5 Bloom 3, Bumbarger 1, Walls 1.