HYDE – With Punxsutawney trying to protect a one-point lead by freezing the ball for the second time in the fourth quarter, Gwen Porter converted a steal into a flying layup with 1:51 remaining to put Clearfield ahead, and she tacked on two free throw with 11 seconds left as the Lady Bisons cooled off the Lady Chucks 31-28 in a crucial District 9 League girls basketball game Wednesday night.
The Lady Chucks came into Weiss Gym with wins in their last five league games, including surprises against second-place Elk County Catholic 51-37 on Feb. 5 and front-running St. Marys 62-59 Monday, and the opportunity to clinch the No. 2 seed for the District 9 Class AAA Playoffs.
They led most of the way, but the inspired Lady Bisons knew what was at stake and refused to buckle.
Their fifth consecutive victory keeps alive their hopes of overtaking the Lady Chucks for home court in the first round of the playoffs.
Clearfield is bucking the odds, though.
The Lady Bisons must come right back tonight and defeat ECC, which will be playing for a share of the league championship, and then root for last-place Bradford to knock off the Lady Chucks Friday.
That would leave them tied at 7-5 in the league with a series split. The third criteria is the District 9 Power Ratings. Clearfield (14-6) has more wins, but Punxsy (10-11) has played more games against Class AAAA opponents, a factor in the point totals.
Lady Bison coach Joey Castagnolo was savoring the win over the Lady Bisons too much to be looking ahead.
“What a game!” he said. “I’m real happy for the kids. They knew they had to win. We just beat the hottest team in District 9. It’s a confidence-builder.
“We executed at both ends of the court. All five seniors stepped up. That was our most complete game.”
Stout defense was the key to Clearfield outscoring Punxsy 15-7 in the second half, but the turning point came early in the second quarter, according to Castagnolo.
The Lady Chucks rode two NBA-distance three-pointers by Jenna Reitz and six points by Shawna Crago to a 14-7 lead after one quarter, and Hannah Neal’s trey from the right side made it a 10-point game with 1:08 gone in the second period.
Castagnolo immediately signaled for a timeout.
He said, “I told the kids, ‘Girls, we can’t let them slip away any more. This is the time we have to start playing. We can’t let them get more than 10 points on us. They’ll freeze the ball.'”
The warning was heeded.
Punxsy kept firing over the Lady Bison zone defenses with little effect, finishing 4-for-21 from behind the arc, and could muster only 11 points over the final 22:52.
Amber Byerly’s traditional three-pointer and Jayme Ryan’s trey from the left wing, an unusual spot for her, helped Clearfield cut the margin to 21-16 by intermission.
Clearfield drew even for the first time on Madison Sopic’s foul shot with 1:37 left in the third quarter and got a late field goal from Elizabeth Peters to take a 27-25 edge into the final period.
Punxsy regained the lead on Hannah Neal’s trey from the right side with 6:47 to play, but those proved to be the last points for the Lady Chucks, who shot only 27.5 percent (11-for-40).
When the visitors first went into a keepaway mode, Castagnolo chose to have his team stay back in their 2-1-2 zone.
“They started that with about five minutes to go, and we weren’t trapping when they picked up their dribble,” he said.
When Punxsy coach Randy Reitz called a timeout with 2:53 left, Castagnolo made his move.
He told his five senior starters, “Girls, now you go overplay them. We don’t have to foul. They can’t freeze it that long.’
“And Gwenn just seized the moment,” he added.
A minute later, the Lady Bison pesky point guard came up with her steal on a mishandled Lady Chuck pass and sprinted for the winning field goal.
After Reitz misfired on a three-pointer, Clearfield went into a stall.
“We just executed perfectly there,” Castagnolo said.
The Lady Chucks needed to foul three times to get the Lady Bisons in a one-and-one situation, and Porter all but dashed their hopes with her two foul shots, the first one bouncing twice on the rim before falling through and the second finding nothing but net.
Punxsy scrambled to get a final shot, but Amber Fye’s three-point attempt at the buzzer was off target.
“That whole fourth quarter, we executed,” Castagnolo said. “I’m just so proud of our defense.”
He was happy the way his team responded to Punxsy’s style of being very deliberate on offense, labeling it a growing-up process.
“We used to get frustrated because we weren’t getting enough shots, and now, we just adapt to the flow of the game,” Castagnolo said. “We played their tempo. We’ve been working on our half-court offense, and it showed tonight. Teams want to slow us down, we can play that style.”
The starters scored all of Clearfield’s points, Porter high with eight and backcourt mate Madison Sopic right behind with seven.
Byerly keyed a 28-21 rebounding advantage with nine boards.
Crago, whose inside presence was minimized by tougher Clearfield defense in the second half, just missed a double-double with her game-high 10 points and nine rebounds.
All five Lady Chuck starters played the entire game.
“I don’t know how they do it,” Castagnolo said. “My hat’s off to them. They must be in excellent shape. They played a great game.
“It was a great high school girls basketball game.”
The teams matched 11 field goals, with the Lady Bisons taking 36 shots and the Lady Chucks getting off 40.
Punxsy had just one turnover in each of the first two periods and seven for the game, two less than Clearfield.
The Clearfield junior varsity fought back from a 28-9 halftime deficit to close to within one point in the final minute, but Punxsy held on for a 42-40 win. Breanna Peters scored 13 points for the Lady Bisons, who are 11-9.
See photos of the game here: http://www.ladybisonsports.org/lbsbball021710.html
District 9 League – St. Marys 10-2, Elk County Catholic 9-2, Punxsutawney 7-4, Clearfield 6-5, DuBois 4-8, Brookville 3-9, Bradford 1-10.
PUNXSUTAWNEY — 28
Jenna Reitz 2 0-0 6, Hannah Neal 2 0-0 6, Megan McCully 2 0-0 4, Amber Fye 1 0-0 2, Shawna Crago 4 2-2 10. TOTALS: 11 2-2 28.
CLEARFIELD — 31
Jayme Ryan 2 0-0 6, Gwenn Porter 2 4-5 8, Madison Sopic 3 1-2 7, Elizabeth Peters 2 0-0 4, Amber Byerly 2 2-3 6, Breanna Peters 0 0-0 0, Angela Moore 0 0-0 0, Lisa Ambuski 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 11 7-10 31.
Three-Point Field Goals – Punxsutawney 4 (Reitz 2, Neal 2); Clearfield 2 (Ryan 2).
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Punxsutawney 14 7 4 3 – 28
Clearfield 7 9 11 4 – 31
Officials – Barry Abbott, Scott Sullivan, Emery Faith.
