Clearfield Lady Bisons Fall to Penns Valley Lady Rams 50-31

HYDE — After little time to recover from a rare Saturday night game, the Clearfield Lady Bisons returned home Tuesday night hoping to give the home crowd a victory to start the week.  The opposition on the other side of the court came from the Lady Rams of Penns Valley.

At the end of 32 minutes of play, it was Penns Valley that had the smile on its face.  Taking advantage of 22 Clearfield turnovers, the Lady Rams left the Clearfield High School with a 50-31 victory.

According to head coach Joey Castagnolo, it was obvious what cost his team the victory.

“We were looking for something to fire us up.  We are so accustomed to getting into runs, and we just didn’t get one,” Castagnolo said.  “We were never in the flow tonight.”

At the same time, Castagnolo acknowledged that his team didn’t take advantage when he felt they had the chances.  Early in the contest, Clearfield fell behind by eight points but battled back to just a four-point deficit at the end of the first quarter.  They closed to within two in the early part of the second, but Penns Valley roared back to hold Clearfield to just four points in the quarter.

The third quarter is where the Lady Rams put it in high gear as the team drained 21 points, 14 of which came from Cassie Hazel and Heather Holmes.  Hazel ended the night with 12 total points, as did teammate Carolyn Darr.  Both led all scoring for both teams while Holmes also had a team-high six rebounds.

What Castagnolo appeared to be most frustrated with was the play under the baskets – getting the rebounds and the put backs in the paint.

“We should be moving a lot more than that, but you have to credit Penns Valley as well.  They played tough defense tonight,” Castagnolo said.  “I don’t know whether it was their press coverage or our play, but they just out played us tonight.”

That defense was able to keep Clearfield’s Dakota Farmery away from the basket and away from rebounds.  Farmery had seven rebounds at the end of the night, but was held to only three points.

“Their defense took Dakota away, and as the game wore on she was getting frustrated,” Castagnolo said.

No player for Clearfield hit double digits as Lisa Ambuski, Rachel Thompson and Brianna Peters all had six points, while Peters tied with Farmery in rebounds with seven, and Kristen Butler led in assists with five.

Clearfield did win the junior varsity game in an overtime thriller by a final of 39-38.

Sitting at 1-10 on the season, Castagnolo could sense the frustration.  And now the season gets tougher for Clearfield as they have to travel to Bald Eagle Area on Thursday to play the Lady Eagles, who sit at 12-0 following their victory over Philipsburg-Osceola Tuesday night.

“We have our work cut out for us, but we’ll go down there and make it a game,” Castagnolo said.

Tip off at the Bald Eagle High School is 6 p.m. for the junior varsity contest, with varsity to follow.

See photos of the game: http://www.ladybisonsports.org/lbsbball011811.html

BOX SCORE

Penns Valley     14     8     21     7          50

Clearfield            10     4     12     5          31

PENNS VALLEY 50

Struble 0 0-0 0, Darr 6 0-0 12, Heckman 0 0-2 0, Holmes 4 0-0 9, Lyons 0 0-0 0, Pinamonti 0 0-0 0, Rupert 1 1-2 4, Hazel 5 0-0 12, Emel 0 0-0 0, Bastress 4 0-0 8, Boone 2 1-2 5, Keller 0 0-0 0, Ironside 0 0-0 0.  Totals 22 2-6 50.

CLEARFIELD 31

Ryan 1 0-0 3, Butler 1 0-0 2, Renaud 0 0-0 0, Ambuski 2 2-2 6, Thompson 3 0-0 6, Marsh 2 0-0 5, Peters 2 2-2 6, Sheeder 0 0-0 0, Farmery 1 1-2 3.  Totals 12 5-6 31.

TEAM REBOUNDS:  PV-18  CF-21
FIELD GOALS MADE/ATTEMPTED:  PV-22/53  CF-11/37
TEAM FOULS:  PV-13  CF-10
TURNOVERS:  PV-16  CF-22

THREE-POINT SHOTS:  PV-Hazel (2), Rupert, Holmes  CF-Ryan, Marsh