FRANKLIN – Junior sharpshooter Saddie Gravatt and Franklin\’s tight man-for-man defense simply were too, too much for Clearfield in the PIAA Class AAA girls basketball play-in game Tuesday night.
Gravatt, a 5-6 guard with an amazingly quick release, was uncanny from behind the arc, pouring in nine of the Lady Knights\’ 13 three-pointers, while the Lady Bisons could muster only three field goals, one in each of the last three quarters.
Gravatt, who took only 11 shots, matched her season high with 28 points to wow a very-partisan crowd in \”The Castle\” as the District 10 third-place team won for the 12th time without defeat on its home floor, 56-16.
\”We tried everything on her, box-and-one and different zones, and we just couldn\’t stop her,\” Clearfield coach Joey Castagnolo said in praising the Franklin scoring machine during post-game interviews with WOKW 102.9 FM and WQYX 93.1 FM sportscasters. \”She couldn\’t miss. I\’ve never seen a girl shoot off the dribble and shoot off a screen like that.
\”That whole team shot well. And they played tough defense.
\”They scouted us well. They knew our weaknesses.
\”You could tell they\’ve played a lot of basketball.\”
Gravatt\’s quartet of threes and Autumn Witt\’s pair of free throws staked Franklin (21-5) to a 14-4 lead in the first quarter.
Sarah Kovalick and Gwenn Porter had two free throws apiece for District 9 runner-up Clearfield, which didn\’t get its first field goal until Madison Sopic pried the lid off the basket with 2:01 left in the second period.
Annie Janocko\’s two foul shots were the only other points for the Lady Bisons, who were down 30-8 at intermission.
Gravatt already had banked 19 points. She then added two treys in the third quarter as the Lady Knights expanded the margin to 50-14 and tallied their final points with more than six minutes remaining to invoke the Mercy Rule.
Sopic\’s second basket was the only scoring after that.
\”We knew we were facing a tough situation coming in here,\” Castagnolo said after the Lady Bisons\’ first PIAA playoff appearance since 2000. \”This is a basketball town.
\”I told the kids to walk out of here with their heads up. We just played two tough teams (St. Marys and Franklin).\”
Franklin, which received Class AAA honorable mention in this week\’s Harrisburg Patriot-News rankings, shot almost 40 percent from the field and had a slight edge in rebounding.
Clearfield was 1-for-22 in the first half and 3-for-43 over-all in failing to crack double figures in any quarter for the second game in a row, prompting Castagnolo to declare, \”Starting in the spring, we have to change and rebuild our offense.\”
Janocko, Kovalick and Jocelyn Schultz played their final game for the Lady Bisons.
\”We were 5-19 last year, and the seniors stuck with us, and we turned it around,\” Castagnolo said.
The Lady Bisons, who finished third in the District 9 League at 6-6, ended up 13-12 after winning only four of their first eight games.
\”I\’m glad we were here just for the experience for our younger players,\” Castagnolo said.
Franklin moves into the round of 32 against District 7 (WPIAL) champion New Castle (24-2) Saturday afternoon at North Allegheny High School in Wexford.
CLEARFIELD — 16
Annie Janocko 0 3-4 3, Sarah Kovalick 0 2-2 2, Jayme Ryan 0 0-0 0, Madison Sopic 2 0-0 4, Gwenn Porter 1 2-2 4, Amber Byerly 0 2-6 2, Lori Zalno 0 1-2 1, Angela Moore 0 0-0 0, Elizabeth Peters 0 0-0 0, Jocelyn Schultz 0 0-0 0, Kristen Butler 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 3 10-16 16.
FRANKLIN — 56
Carissa Dolan 1 0-0 2, Saddie Gravatt 9 1-2 28, Kaitlyn Ritchey 1 0-0 2, Natalie Hager 1 0-0 3, Autumn Witt 1 4-4 6, Bethany Foust 2 0-0 6, Jen Kahle 0 0-0 0, Tiffany Witt 2 0-0 4, Brooke Deal 0 0-0 0, Macy Smith 1 00 2, Alex Gibson 1 0-0 3, Madison Irwin 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 19 5-6 56.
Three-Point Field Goals: Franklin 13 (Gravatt 9, Hager 1, Foust 2, Gibson 1).
Score by Quarters:
Clearfield 4 4 6 2 – 16
Franklin 14 16 20 6 – 56
