HYDE – Some losses have to be cataloged by themselves.
That’s what coach Joey Castagnolo must do with the 65-62 overtime setback his Clearfield Area High School girls suffered Wednesday night in Weiss Gym.
He summed it up very quickly and very succinctly, “What a heart-breaker!”
The Lady Bisons, who had scrapped from behind for three quarters, were the unfortunate victims of not one, but two desperation three-pointers by Central seniors.
After Kristen Butler calmly sank two free throws to give Clearfield a 55-52 lead with 6.3 seconds left in a hectic fourth quarter that had nine lead changes, the Lady Dragons were able to work the ball up court in time for Kathryn Blattenberger to launch a shot from just outside the arc that nestled in the net as the buzzer sounded.
The game-winner, which came after the Lady Bisons had come from behind twice in the extra period, was airmailed from the right wing by Sarabeth Bean, rattling the rim and dropping through with 2.6 seconds showing on the clock.
Castagnolo said he tried to get a timeout to set up a last-ditch shot for his team but got no response from the nearest official.
“It was a great high school girls basketball game,” Castagnolo summed up the Mountain League Allegheny Division rematch. “Both teams played very, very well. We just came up on the short end.
“I told the kids, ‘Walk out of here with your heads up.’”
Clearfield, which had won 46-37 on Central’s home floor December 21, never led until Lisa Ambuski came out red-hot at the start of the fourth quarter and canned three consecutive shots, including back-to-back three-pointers to make it 42-41 with 6:45 remaining.
Then, it became a back-and-forth contest with players making clutch shots for both teams.
Breanna Peters canned two free throws and then found Butler making a nice backdoor cut to give the Lady Bisons the first of their two three-point leads at 46-43 with 4:39 left.
Rachel Thompson’s picture-perfect trey from the top of the key erased Central’s 48-46 advantage with 3:09 to go.
Pairs of free throws by Ambuski and Peters put the Lady Bisons ahead by a point twice in the late going before Butler, drawing a hard foul following a Lady Dragon miss, set the stage for the wild finish.
“Kristen isn’t one of our better foul shooters, but she stepped right up there and made those two with six seconds to go,“ said Castagnolo, who called a timeout to set the defense for Central‘s final possession.
“We could have given a foul there,” he noted. “I said, ‘Play close but don’t foul on shooting a three. We just had a missed assignment.”
Blattenberger, who had been struggling with her shooting recently according to first-year coach Shelley McCune, sparked Central (11-6) in the final period with nine of her 16 points. She jumped an ill-advised Lady Bison cross-court pass for a key bucket with 1:34 left.
Lindsey Smith, who also scored 16 points and led the Lady Dragons with eight rebounds, had the only their only other field goal in the quarter. Taylor McKnight made two foul shots and Ashley Smith made one of two.
In overtime, Ashley Smith registered the first five points on a putback and a three-pointer from the left corner, but the Lady Bisons responded with a driving lay-up by Ambuski and one free throw and a difficult putback by Peters that knotted the score again with 1:19 remaining.
Blattenberger broke the tie via two freebies with 19.6 seconds left, but Ambuski again answered for Clearfield, driving to the hoop as the clock hit 12.8 seconds.
Just when a second overtime appeared imminent, Bean won it with her only points. The Lady Dragons’ lone returning starter had missed her first six shots but was clutch on her the most important set shot.
“Both teams played with a lot of poise (in the fourth quarter and overtime),” Castagnolo said. “We didn’t throw the ball away; they didn‘t throw the ball away.”
While the teams kept trading baskets over the final 11 minutes, it didn’t start out that way.
The Lady Bisons hit only two of their 12 attempts and fell behind 12-5 after one quarter as the Lady Dragons, who stayed in a zone in the previous meeting, came out in a man defense and overplayed posts Peters and Dakota Farmery.
Peters had burned them for 27 points in December. She and Farmery were limited to a total of 20 points this time.
“It was physical inside, and that’s the type of game (the Scarlet Dragons) like to play,” Castagnolo said.
“We always talk about starting fast, but we didn’t. We were a different type of a team tonight, because usually in the fourth quarter we’re up.
“I’m proud of the kids the way they battled back. We were down seven going into the fourth quarter, and we showed a lot of moxie to come back and take the lead.
“When they went up five in overtime, it didn’t faze us at all. We came back and tied it again.”
Castagnolo lauded Ambuski for being so productive in the fourth quarter and overtime with all but three of her game-high 17 points.
Butler chipped in 14 points as she and Ambuski matched their season and career highs.
Peters wound up with 11 points while Farmery grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.
McKnight and Ashley Smith backed Blattenberger and Lindsey Smith for Central with 13 and 12 points, respectively.
The Bisons shot 39.3 percent (22-for-56) and had a 33-22 advantage on the boards.
The Scarlet Dragons made 24 of 64 shots for 37.5 percent.
Turnovers were low, nine for the visitors and 15 for the Lady Bisons.
Clearfield (12-6) missed an opportunity to set up a big ML-Allegheny Division showdown at first-place Tyrone Friday by with slipping to 3-3.
The Clearfield junior varsity outscored Central 16-6 in the fourth quarter to pull out a 38-32 victory. Brittany Renaud scored 10 points for the Lady Bisons, while Maggie Sopic and Emily Aveni added eight apiece.
See photos of the game here: http://www.ladybisonsports.org/lbsbball020112.html
CENTRAL — 65
Sarabeth Bean 1 0-0 3, Lindsey Smith 7 2-4 16, Kathryn Blattenberger 5 5-6 16, Taylor McKnight 5 2-2 13, Ashley Smith 4 1-2 12, Kayla Shriver 2 0-0 5, Mikeala McGraw 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 24 10-14 65.
CLEARFIELD — 62
Lisa Ambuski 6 2-2 17, Rachel Thompson 4 0-0 9, Kristen Butler 5 4-4 14, Breanna Peters 2 7-11, Dakota Farmery 4 1-2 9, Renaud 0 0-0 0, Sheeder 1 0-0 2, Mumma 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 22 14-19 62.
Three-Point Field Goals – Central 7 (Bean, Blattenberger, McKnight, A. Smith 3, Shriver); Clearfield 4 (Ambuski, Thompson 3).
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Central 12 15 14 14 10 – 65
Clearfield 5 18 11 21 7 – 62