The game was much better than the records would indicate and in the end the Lady Raiders picked up it’s second win of the year, 47-42 over the now 1-8 Clearfield squad.
Bellefonte improved to 2-8 on the 2010-11 season.
It wasn’t much of an offensive game the first eight minutes as Bellefonte took a 6-4 lead into the second quarter.
Clearfield jumped put to an early 4-0 edge before the Lady Raiders went on an 11-0 run that carried into the second quarter. However, the second frame actually belonged to the Lady Bisons by outscoring their visitors 17-15 to tie the game at the half 21-21.
Lady Bison head coach Joey Castagnolo said afterwards, “I thought we had a real good chance to win this game tonight. It’s just that things didn’t go our way in the second half, especially in the third quarter.”
Bellefonte caught fire in the third period after a three-pointer by Bison Rachel Thompson had knotted the score at 25-25. The Raiders ended the third on a 16-4 sprint to take a 12 point margin into the fourth and final stanza, 41-29.
The Lady Bisons would fight back in the fourth to make a game of it as Dakota Farmery put a bucket in down the stretch to cut the Lady Raiders lead to 45-42. Bellefonte senior Sara Day would then seal the victory moments later with two free throws.
Clearfield dropped in 13 fourth quarter points to six for the Lady Raiders as the valiant effort came up a little short.
Day paced Bellefonte with 14 points followed by 13 for Brooks Young.
Lady Bison sophomore Breanna Peters did all she could do by putting her teammates on her back most of the night as she hit for a game high of 17 points with 11 coming in the second half. Thompson followed with 11 points.
Peters was the only Bison to take a trip to the foul line were she connected on 7 of 9 free throws.
Castagnolo did see some bright spots, “I liked our effort in coming back a couple of times to have a chance to win. And I thought our defense, especially in the fourth quarter, was excellent. But it‘s hard to come back from a 13 point deficit.”
The junior varsity contest went to Clearfield 33-18 as Brianna Spencer had a team high eight points while helping her team to a 5-3 record on the year.
Clearfield will play at Lewistown on Saturday with the JV game at 6 pm and the varsity tilt to immediately follow.
See photos of the game: http://www.ladybisonsports.org/lbsbball011311.html
BELLEFONTE – 47
Brooks Young 5 0-0 13, Erica DeVinney 1 0-0 2, Sara Day 3 7-11 14, Jessica Immel 0 0-0 0, Jenna Robb 4 1-1 9, Victoria Sealy 0 0-0 0, Karissa Thal 2 0-0 5, Jillian Musser 2 0-0 4, Cassandra Book 0 0-0 0, Devon Etters 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 17 8-12 47
CLEARFIELD – 42
Kristin Butler 0 0-0 0, Lisa Ambuski 2 0-0 6, Rachel Thompson 5 0-0 11, Dakota Farmery 4 0-0 8, Breanna Peters 5 7-9 17, Johanna Ryan 0 0-0 0, Brittany Renaud 0 0-0 0, Ciara Marsh 0 0-0 0, Katherine Sheeder 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 16 7-9 42
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
BELLEFONTE 6 15 20 6 47
CLEARFIELD 4 17 8 13 42
THREE-POINTERS: BELLEFONTE – 5 Young 3, Day, Thal CLEARFIELD – 3 Ambuski 2, Thompson
OFFICIALS: George Schneider, Ken Knepp, Bud Brennen