It was senior night at Philipsburg and the Lady Mounties gave Clearfield all they could handle before the Lady Bisons picked up win number 13 on the year with a hard fought 49-44 victory. Clearfield has lost seven times this season.
The Lady Mounties jumped out to an early 8-2 lead before Clearfield went on a 14-0 run to end the first quarter out in front 16-8. The Bison run was fueled by junior Breanna Peters who had eight first quarter points.
The Lady Mounties had their best eight minutes of action by outscoring Clearfield 17-8 in the second period and they themselves had an 8-0 run during that stretch to lead at the break 25-24.
This was a Lady Bison team that had mauled Philipsburg-Osceola in the first encounter on January 10 by a score of 71-37 at Clearfield. Clearfield needed to prove that they could withstand the highly fueled effort by its host and they did just that in the third period of action.
The Bisons had another run, this time 12-2, during the third period, which enabled them to have a 16-5 advantage in the quarter giving Clearfield back the lead at the end of three, 40-30.
To the credit of a very young, scrappy squad, the Mounties stayed in the game with a fourth quarter advantage of 14-9, but in the end the Lady Bisons finally prevailed.
After the tough battle Clearfield head coach Joey Castagnolo said, “The Philipsburg team played with great emotion and fire as expected on their senior night. And I am very proud of our girls for the way they played on such a night.”
Then Castagnolo added, “Bre (Breanna Peters) and Dakota (Farmery) not only did a lot of our scoring but they also dominated the boards for us that was a key to getting this win.”
The fact that the Lady Bisons were 14 of 17 from the free throw line wasn’t lost on the Clearfield mentor, “We have worked very hard at practice with our free throw shooting and I really expect that kind of performance from the girls. Tonight it really paid off.”
Peters had 18 points for the Lady Bisons with Farmery adding 17. The Lady Mounties also had two players in double figures, as Lauren Simcox, the only senior on the team, and freshman Abby Showers each netted 14 points.
In the junior varsity contest it was Clearfield coming away with a 35-32 win over the Lady Mounties as Brittany Renuad scored 19 points to pace the Lady Bisons.
Philipsburg-Osceola, who dropped to 5-17 on the season, will entertain Huntingdon on Friday.
The Lady Bisons will host rival Curwensville on Monday with the JV game starting at 6 pm and the varsity to immediately follow.
In the first meeting this season Clearfield downed the Lady Tide 57-38 on December 28.
Listen to Clearfield-Curwensville girls basketball Monday on WOKW-FM, 102.9, beginning with the pre-game show at 7:15 pm.
See photos of the game here: http://www.ladybisonsports.org/lbsbball020812.html
CLEARFIELD – 49
Kristen Butler 0 2-2 2, Dakota Farmery 6 5-6 17, Lisa Ambuski 0 2-2 2, Rachel Thompson 1 2-2 4, Breanna Peters 8 1-3 18, Brittany Renaud 1 0-0 2, Janelle Mumma 0 0-0 0, Katherine Sheeder 1 2-2 4, Maggie Sopic 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 17 14-17 49.
PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA – 44
Chelsea Brown 1 0-0 2, Cassidy Bauman 4 0-0 8, Lauren Simcox 5 2-6 14, Abby Showers 6 0-0 14, Briana Rusnak 3 0-0 6, McKenzie Burge 0 0-0 0, Katie Meersand 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 19 2-6 44.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
CLEARFIELD 16 8 16 9 49
PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA 8 17 5 14 44
THREE-POINTERS: Peters, Simcox, 2, Showers 2
OFFICIALS: Jim Cushion, David Day, Jim Klausman
Lady Bison Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/14 | @ Huntingdon | 68 – 89 | 0 – 1 |
| 12/19 | PUNXSUTAWNEY | 60-55 2ot | 1 – 1 |
| 12/21 | @ Central | 46 – 37 | 2 – 1 |
| 12/23 | @ Bellefonte | 55 – 30 | 3 – 1 |
| 12/28 | @ Curwensville | 57 – 38 | 4 – 1 |
| 01/04 | TYRONE | 38 – 47 | 4 – 2 |
| 01/06 | @ Punxsutawney | 55 – 68 | 4 – 3 |
| 01/09 | BROOKVILLE | 63 – 55 | 5 – 3 |
| 01/10 | PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA | 71 – 37 | 6 – 3 |
| 01/12 | @ DuBois | 57 – 45 | 7 – 3 |
| 01/14 | @ Penns Valley | 59 – 45 | 8 – 3 |
| 01/17 | @ Central Mountain | 37 – 50 | 8 – 4 |
| 01/20 | BALD EAGLE AREA | 61 – 55 | 9 – 4 |
| 01/24 | HUNTINGDON | 72 – 48 | 10 – 4 |
| 01/26 | ST. MARYS | 51 – 55 | 10 – 5 |
| 01/27 | @ Juniata | 59 – 53 | 11 – 5 |
| 01/30 | PENNS VALLEY | 58 – 41 | 12 – 5 |
| 02/01 | CENTRAL | 62 – 65 ot | 12 – 6 |
| 02/03 | @ Tyrone | 31 – 60 | 12 – 7 |
| 02/08 | @ Philipsburg-Osceola | 49 – 44 | 13 – 7 |
| 02/10 | CENTRAL MOUNTAIN | ||
| 02/13 | CURWENSVILLE |
