HYDE – The Clearfield Area High School girls basketball team certainly picked a great time to play one of its best games of the season Wednesday night.
Outstanding defense, brilliant foul shooting and strong rebounding enabled the Lady Bisons (13-10) to treat the large, partisan crowd in Arthur J. Weiss Gymnasium to a 43-34 District 9 Class AAA semifinal win over Punxsutawney.
They held the Lady Chucks (7-16) to 25.5 percent shooting (13-for-51) by extending their 1-3-1 zone and constantly hustling to the ball, paying particular attention to three-point threat Jenna Reitz.
Punxsy\’s sophomore point guard, who burned Clearfield for seven 3-pointers in the two District 9 League games the teams split, launched eight shots from behind the arc but hit only one and finished with five points. She did miss several minutes after picking up her fourth foul early in the third quarter.
\”I can\’t say enough about our defense,\” coach Joey Castagnolo said after the Lady Bisons improved to 13-10. \”I heard a comment that they couldn\’t shoot tonight. I think it was our team defense.\”
Equally important was Clearfield\’s 20-for-24 performance at the foul line, with Gwenn Porter sinking nine of 13 attempts for a game-high 14 points and Madison Sopic converting all seven times she went to the charity stripe to chip in 11 points.
\”I thought that was the difference in the game,\” Castagnolo said. \”All those kids just were so confident going up there. There was so much poise. And the first half foul shots were just as important as the fourth quarter foul shots.\”
Rebounding was a big plus as, for only the sixth time this season, the Lady Bisons finished with an advantage under the boards, 37-25.
Again, the two junior guards led the way, Sopic snaring nine rebounds and the diminutive Porter snatching eight missed shots.
\”Against that type of a team, I had to have great guard play because of their pressure, and I though Gwenny and Madison did an excellent job,\” Castagnolo.
Sopic was the sparkplug early.
She swished two foul shots with eight seconds gone, followed with a conventional three-point play on a running bank shot and then canned a short jumper for a 7-0 lead after 3:10.
\”I preached all day to the kids that I wanted to get off to a fast start like the boys did (Tuesday night in a 74-48 playoff win over Bradford),\” Castagnolo said. \”That was a big key, because we didn\’t have good quarters against Punxsy the other two games.\”
Sopic also grabbed four rebounds and had a steal in Clearfield\’s 12-3 first-quarter run.
\”That\’s the kind of basketball player she can be,\” Castagnolo said.
The Lady Chucks made only one of 13 shots in the first period, and the Lady Bisons almost matched that in the second period, their lone field goal in 12 attempts coming when Elizabeth Peters passed to Annie Janocko cutting down the middle.
However, the Lady Bisons cashed in nine times at the charity stripe to carry a 23-13 lead to the locker room at halftime. Allie Miller had six of her team-high 11 points to get Punxsy to within five points, 18-13, before Peters combined for five free throws.
Punxsy began the second half with a 9-1 run capped by Amber Fye\’s three-pointer that trimmed Clearfield\’s edge to 24-22 with 4:21 left in the third quarter.
Moments later, Castagnolo called a timeout.
\”I think everybody relaxed because we were up 10,\” Castagnolo said. \”We went match-up (out of the 1-3-1 set) and we kicked up the tempo of the defense again. The kids could taste it, and we just kicked it up.\”
The Lady Chucks didn\’t score again in the third period, while Porter took a Jayme Ryan pass to the hoop and Janocko tossed in a pull-up jumper in the lane to widen the margin to 28-22 going to the fourth quarter.
Threes by Ryan and Sarah Kovalick from opposite sides of the floor had the Lady Chucks staring at a 34-25 deficit, but the rallied one more time, closing to within three, 35-32, on a NBA-range three by Reitz with 3:09 to play.
Porter, who was pressured every trip down the floor, penetrated and found Janocko wide open for a peep, and the press-breaker
tacked on two foul shots for a 39-32 lead.
Amanda Toven made it a two-possession game with two free throws, but the Lady Chucks forced to foul, and Kovalick and Sopic drained two foul shots apiece in the final minute.
Both teams had an unusually high number of turnovers because of the defenses, Clearfield\’s 25 three more than Punxsy had, but Castagnolo rationalized, \”I can understand those, really. I\’m not too upset about that, because that pressure was tough. They were in our face the whole game.
\”That was a fun game,\” he added. \”That atmosphere was great. It was nice to see the boys team and the coaching staff here. It was just a nice thing for the community.\”
Clearfield\’s rewards are twofold.
First is another crack at No. 1 seed St. Marys (20-2) in the district championship game Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in Clarion University\’s Tippin Gym. The Flying Dutch held off the Lady Bisons 48-44 at home and 62-58 in Weiss Gym.
Second, win or lose, is a trip to the PIAA Playoffs for the first time since 2000 when Clearfield won the district\’s final Class AAAA title game.
PUNXSUTAWNEY — 34
Jenna Reitz 2 0-0 5, Lauren Janocha 1 0-0 3, Brittany Baker 2 0-2 4, Amanda Toven 0 3-3 3, Allie Miller 5 1-2 11, Amber Fye 3 0-0 8, Megan McCully 0 0-0 0, Shawna Crago 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 13 4-7 34.
CLEARFIELD — 43
Annie Janocko 4 0-0 8, Sarah Kovalick 1 2-2 5, Jayme Ryan 1 0-0 3, Madison Sopic 2 7-7 11, Gwenn Porter 2 9-13 14, Amber Byerly 0 0-0 0, Elizabeth Peters 0 2-2 2, Lori Zalno 0 0-0 0, Angela Moore 0 0-0 0, Jody Schultz 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 10 20-24 43.
Three-Point Field Goals: Punxsutawney 4 (Reitz 1, Janocha 1, Fye 2); Clearfield 3 (Kovalick 1, Ryan 1, Porter 1).
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
Punxsutawney 3 10 9 12 – 34
Clearfield 12 11 5 15 – 43
Officials: Carla Smith, Ron Kerlin, Ron Walter.
