HYDE – The ever-shifting landscape of scholastic athletics has created a new-look, much-tougher schedule for the Clearfield Area High School girls basketball team this season.
The Lady Bisons will debut in the Mountain League, comprised of all District 6 opponents, including several perennial playoff contenders, after many years in the District 9 League.
An even bigger challenge for veteran coach Joey Castagnolo and his assistants, though, will be turning an 11-player squad with only two letterwinners, neither of whom was a starter, and two players with very limited varsity minutes into a cohesive, competitive unit.
Gone from the 2009-10 team that finished 6-6 in the D-9 League and 15-8 overall are seven players who accounted for the lion’s share of the minutes, points, rebounds, assists and steals. They wound up with a combined 23 letters for their careers.
“I’ve never been in this position,” said Castagnolo, 144-128 in 11 seasons at his alma mater. “We haven’t even talked about goals.
“The main thing now is to get in minutes for the kids. I’m gonna play all of them. It’s going to be a work in progress until they get that experience at the varsity level.”
Sophomore Breanna Peters garnered by far the most minutes last winter, scoring 64 points in 22 games.
“If one of our posts was in trouble, she went in,” Castagnolo noted.
Junior wing Kristen Butler, 13 points in 18 games, is the other letterwinner.
Point guard Lisa Ambuski and wing Rachel Thompson, both juniors, made brief appearances in 20 and 18 games, respectively.
All four logged significant playing time for coach Jerry Stewart’s junior varsity, too.
After years of banking on long-range firepower, Castagnolo has switched his philosophy.
“We’re still going to try to play up-tempo, but in our half-court offense, we’re going to have to pound the ball inside,” he explained. ““The outside shooting is not going to be there as in the past, but our inside game should be just as strong.“
Peters and sophomore Dakota Farmery will anchor the post and will be counted on to supply the bulk of the points. Juniors Kate Sheeder and Janelle Mumma are the back-ups.
The wings will be Butler on the left and Johanna Ryan, the lone senior, on the right, where Thompson also is expected to be a contributor on offense. Junior Ciara Marsh will be called on to help out on the wings, too.
At point guard, Ambuski has an edge over much-improved sophomore Brittany Renaud, with promising freshman Brianna Spencer also available.
“Brittany didn’t go out for volleyball so she could concentrate on basketball, which has really helped her,” Castagnolo said.
Castagnolo is pleased with the quickness of his wings and guards but still will keep the Lady Bisons in zone defense because of a lack of depth.
Injuries and illness will be major concerns due to the lack of numbers.
As for the new league, Clearfield will be in the Allegheny Division with Philipsburg-Osceola, Tyrone, Huntingdon, Central and Central Mountain, playing those teams twice.
The Lady Bisons also will cross over for single games against Nittany Division members Bald Eagle Area, Bellefonte, Penns Valley, Indian Valley, Lewistown and Juniata.
“This isn’t a step down from the District 9 League by any means,” Castagnolo said. “Overall, it’s a tougher league because it has more depth. At the same time, I don’t think anybody is better than St. Marys will be this year.”
The Lady Bisons still have District 9 Class AAA rivals St. Marys and Punxsutawney as well as DuBois and Curwensville on their schedule. Northern Cambria, which lost to Bishop Guilfoyle in the Class A state title game last season, is another newcomer.
Stewart (12th year) and Stan Solarczyk (6th year) are the Lady Bison assistant coaches.
Clearfield’s senior group last season included a quartet of four-year letterwinners in Madison Sopic, Amber Byerly, Jayme Ryan and Eilzabeth Peters. Gwenn Porter and Angela Moore departed with three letters apiece and Lori Zalno earned one.
Sopic, Byerly and Porter were named District 9 League and Progressland All-Stars.
Sopic, who also was selected to D9Sports.com’s All-District 9 Third Team, led the Lady Bisons in scoring (260 points, 11.5 ppg), and steals (73) and was second in rebounds (135).
Byerly pulled down 208 rebounds, climbing into sixth place on the all-time charts with 608, while also chipping in with 223 points, a 9.7 average.
Porter was second in points (251, 10.9), tops in assists (90) and second in steals (61).
Ryan tallied 162 points, mostly from behind the arc, and ended her career with 138 three-pointers, third most in Lady Bison history.
Peters netted 105 points, a 4.6 average.
In all, the seven seniors poured in 1,092 of Clearfield’s 1,176 points.
Ryan played in 95 games during her career, tying for fifth all-time. Byerly and Peters appeared in 92 games to tie for ninth place.
The 2010-11 roster, with (*) denoting letterwinners:
Senior – Johanna Ryan.
Juniors – Lisa Ambuski; Kristen Butler (*); Ciara Marsh; Janelle Mumma; Kate Sheeder; Rachel Thompson.
Sophomores – Dakota Farmery; Breanna Peters (*); Brittany Renaud.
Freshman – Brianna Spencer.
* * * * *
The schedule, with asterisk denoting Mountain League Allegheny Division game and all games at 7:30 p.m. unless noted:
December
15 – Huntingdon*
17 – Central*
20 – at Punxsutawney
22 – at Tyrone*
28 – Curwensville
January
4 – at Philipsburg-Osceola*
6 – Central Mountain*
7 – DuBois
11 – at Indian Valley
13 – Bellefonte
15 – at Lewistown
18 – Penns Valley
20 – at Bald Eagle Area
21 – at St. Marys
24 – Northern Cambria
26 – Juniata
28 – at Huntingdon* (7:15 p.m.)
31 – at Central*
February
3 – Tyrone* (7 p.m.)
8 – Philipsburg-Osceola*
10 – at Central Mountain*
13 – at Curwensville
