HYDE – Perhaps it was because they had revenge on their minds, but the Clearfield Lady Bisons sure didn’t play like a team that hadn’t practiced for three days because of school cancellations due to this week’s snowstorm.
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They hit the Weiss Gym hardwood running Friday night and never slowed down until assured of atoning for a 58-51 loss at DuBois on Jan. 15.
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“They were really upset that we lost up there,” coach Joey Castagnolo said after his Lady Bisons rolled to an important 57-38 District 9 League victory that kept alive their hopes of earning the No. 2 seed for the District 9 Class AAA Playoffs. “We didn’t play well up there. We were a little disorganized.”
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The difference?
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“We slowed things down defensively,” Castagnolo said. “Instead of chasing, we just packed it in and let them make the mistakes. We played well defensively.”
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That’s an understatement, even though the Lady Beavers were missing leading scorer Kirsten Wilcox, who was on crutches.
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The Lady Bisons were nearly perfect in the first period, limiting the visitors to one field goal in 11 shots and forcing five turnovers, including steals by Madison Sopic and Gwenn Porter.
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In the meantime, Amber Byerly and Sopic keyed a pair of 8-0 runs that gave Clearfield a 16-2 bulge at the first rest stop.
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A putback and a baby hook put Byerly on the path to a career-high 18 points and she followed up Sopic’s pull-up jumper in the lane with another peep on a feed from Porter to make it 8-0 with 2:39 gone.
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“Amber made the easy ones that, in past games, she missed,” Castagnolo noted. “She made those couple easy ones, and you could see the confidence just grow in her.”
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Sopic seemed to be on a mission, too, in the early going.
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She stepped into the limelight after Lindsay Obremski got DuBois on the board with a short jumper.
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First, Sopic turned an offensive rebound into a putback and conventional three-point play. Then, she nailed two more jumpers for seven of her 15 points.
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The 5-9 guard also finished the period with four of her game-high 12 rebounds.
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“It was fun to watch,” Castagnolo said. “I told them to just come out with some confidence and play our style. (I said) let’s get the lead on them. Cause we play much better when we control the tempo when we’re up.”
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The Lady Bisons continued to push the ball up the floor in the second period, and Jayme Ryan was the beneficiary as she spotted up for three-pointers three times. She swished all of them in a span of 1:40Â to widen the gap to 29-8 before the Lady Beavers tallied the final five points of the half.
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Clearfield handled the ball so well in the first 16 minutes that Carly Wallock’s steal on its first trip down the floor proved to be the lone turnover.
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“I knew we took care of the ball really well, but I didn’t know it was that well,” Castagnolo reacted when informed of that stat. “It’s just a testimony how much we’re starting to take pride in possessions.
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“Man, I hope we can bottle that, cause next week is going to be brutal.”
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The Lady Bisons, who will play four games in five days, certainly weren’t looking ahead.
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Rather, they went about taking care of business in the third quarter with great ball movement and 8-for-13 shooting.
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Byerly hustled on fast-breaks and cashed pairs of nifty assists by Sopic and Porter, one a pretty no-look bounce pass by the latter. The Lady Bison point guard also chipped in with a jumper in the lane and a layup on another Sopic assist.
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“For a big girl, Amber gets down there very well,” Castagnolo said. “She’s a key to our fast-break offense. Everybody thinks it’s Jayme. Jayme is more like the decoy out there, so we can pass it in to Amber.”
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DuBois came out of halftime launching three-pointers but misfired on nine flings from behind the arc and hit only one of 11 shots in the third quarter, which ended with Clearfield comfortably in front 45-19.
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Two free throws by Byerly gave the Lady Bisons their biggest lead, 55-27, with 5:23 remaining.
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A season-low seven turnovers and a 35-28 advantage in rebounds to go with a 38 percent shooting effort added up to Castagnolo labeling the Lady Bisons’ 12th win in 18 games as “just a complete all-around game.”
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He added, “We played with the concept of our team game. We were patient on offense. They saw the floor well. And I’m really happy with the rebounding. Our big problem has been rebounding and, tonight, we addressed that problem.”
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Byerly and Porter grabbed nine and seven missed shots, respectively.
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Sopic enhanced her double-double with six assists and four steals.
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Carly Wallock and Emily Oswalt scored eight points apiece for the Lady Beavers, who wound up shooting just under 30 percent after going 6-for-34 through the first three periods. They attempted 23 threes, making five.
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DuBois fell to 12-8 in the league with Wilcox, who is averaging almost 14 points a game, a spectator.
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“I don’t think she would have made that big of a difference,” Castagnolo stated. “We just played well tonight. And that’s how we can play.
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“I hope this carries through the rest of the season.”
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The Lady Bisons will host Curwensville Monday and Punxsutawney Wednesday in what will be a pivotal league game before closing the regular season with trips to Elk County Catholic Thursday and Harmony Friday.
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In the prelim, the Clearfield jayvees rallied late in the fourth quarter to pulled out a 33-31 win for a 10-8 record. Johanna Ryan was high with seven points.
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See pictures of the game here: http://www.ladybisonsports.org/lbsbball021210.html
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District 9 League – St. Marys 10-1, Elk County Catholic 8-2, Punxsutawney 6-3, Clearfield 5-5, DuBois 4-7, Brookville 3-9, Bradford 0-9.
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DUBOIS — 38
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Lindsay Obremski 3 0-0 6, Carly Wallock 3 0-0-8, Jeri Watson 2 0-0 6, Jenna Maholtz 0 0-0 0, Cassie Barton 0 0-0 0, Sami Jo Kirk 1 0-0 3, Casey Wilcox 1 2-2 4, Emily Oswalt 3 2-2 8, Courtney Kelichner 1 1-2 3. TOTALS: 14 5-6 38.
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CLEARFIELD — 57
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Jayme Ryan 3 0-0 9, Gwenn Porter 4 0-0 8, Madison Sopic 6 3-3 15, Elizabeth Peters 1 0-0 2, Amber Byerly 8 2-2 18, Angela Moore 2 0-1 4, Lori Zalno 0 0-0 0, Breanna Peters 0 1-2 1, Rachel Thompson 0 0-0 0, Lisa Ambuski 0 0-0 0, Kristen Butler 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 24 6-8 57.
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Three-Point Field Goals – DuBois 5 (Wallock 2, Watson 2, Kirk 1); Clearfield 3 (Ryan 3).
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Score by Quarters
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DuBois       2 11  6 19 – 38
Clearfield  16 13 16 12 – 57
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Officials – Robby Hartle, Sam Daumer, Kristin Stiglitz.