This time a trip to the District 9 AAA championship game was on the line and St. Marys kept it’s chance alive to win a fifth straight title.
Just like the first game on January 26 between the two squads, in which St. Marys prevailed 55-51, Clearfield played a strong first half only to see it’s defense let them down once again in the final two periods.
A very disappointed Clearfield head coach Joey Castagnolo said afterwards, “I just thought everything was going well through the first three quarters. In the fourth we got a little sloppy with the ball and missed some easy lay-ups. After that started to happen we just started to lose our confidence.”
Continuing, Castagnolo said, We just couldn’t get a stop in the fourth quarter when we needed one. I think perhaps their pressure defense started to wear us down.”
It started out well for the Lady Bisons in the first eight minutes as they jumped out to a 10-4 margin thanks to six points by Breanna Peters. But Kiana Ho’ohuli kept the Lady Dutch alive and well as the sophomore drained three three-pointers to keep the game close going into the second frame with Clearfield leading by a score of 13-12.
And, just like the first game, the second period was the best one for Clearfield as they outscored the Lady Dutch 12-7 to take a six point halftime lead, 25-19.
Dakota Farmery put up six second period points to pace the attack for the Lady Bisons.
Then came the second half and the defensive letdown by Clearfield.
The Lady Bisons would, however, remain in front of the Lady Dutch the entire third quarter and at one time led by seven points, 31-24, on a free throw by Peters with 5:06 left in the third frame.
St. Marys would cut the Clearfield margin to just two points, 33-31, late in the third on a bucket by Rachel Krieg, but moments later Peters put the Bisons out in front by four, 35-21, with just 46 seconds left in the period.
The Lady Dutch would get another bucket just before the end of the quarter and cut the Clearfield margin down to 35-33 entering the fourth and final stanza. Then, just like in the first game, Adair Gennocro took over the offense for St. Marys.
Gennocro scored 30 points in the first win over Clearfield and wasn’t much of a factor in this one until the final eight minutes got underway.
Having just two points at the half and six at the end of three periods, Gennocro put the rest of the Lady Dutch on her back, scoring 15 fourth quarter points including seven of seven from the free throw line in the come-from-behind win.
The Dutch took their first lead of the game early in the fourth, 37-35 on a bucket by Rachel Krieg and moments later Farmery tied it right back up for Clearfield at 37-37.
Gennocro would then score five straight points to give St. Marys a 42-37 lead with over five minutes to play. A lead the Lady Bisons could just not shrink the rest of the contest.
The Lady Dutch lead would reach 10 at 49-39 with 3:48 left thanks to a basket and free throw by Gennocro.
Clearfield would rally and cut the Dutch margin down to five, 49-44, on a Peters bucket and free throw and a lay-up by Farmery. But that was as close as Clearfield would come in it’s bid to move on the district finals.
St. Marys ended the game going to the charity stripe several times over the final three plus minutes and was actually sizzling the entire fourth period going 14 of 15, which put the Lady Bisons away.
On the evening St. Marys was 15 of 17 from the free throw line and Clearfield was 7 of 11.
Gennocro lead all scorers with 21 with Ho’ohuli adding 12 and Sloan Foster chipping in with 10 for St. Marys.
Clearfield had three girls in double figures, as Peters had 14 and Farmery, along with Lisa Ambuski, each netted 12.
The Lady Bisons say good-bye to their five seniors, who finished at 15-8 for the year – Ambuski, Kristen Butler, Rachel Thompson, Janelle Mumma and Katherine Sheeder.
Castagnolo closed the season saying, “We still had a great season. It wasn’t all about just this one game. But it would have been nice to advance to the finals.”
About the girls that are leaving the program, Castagnolo said, “I want to say thank you and good-bye to the five seniors that have been through the good and bad times with Lady Bison basketball. I wish them all well in all of their future endeavors. They’re just a group of great kids.
St. Marys, 11-13, now awaits the winner of the Punxsutawney-Bradford semifinal game being played in Bradford on Friday night at 6 pm for the District 9 title to be held at Clarion University on Saturday, March 3.
See photos of the game here: http://www.ladybisonsports.org/lbsbball022312.html
ST. MARYS – 59
Jenna Anderson 3 0-0 7, Sloan Foster 2 6-8 10, Adair Gennocro 7 7-7 21, Kiana Ho’ohuli 4 0-0 12, Becky Krieg 0 0-0 0, DeAnna Yost 1 0-0 2, Cassie Daniels 1 0-0 3, Rachel Krieg 1 2-2 4, TOTALS – 19 15-17 59.
CLEARFIELD – 48
Kristen Butler 2 0-0 4, Dakota Farmery 6 0-0 12, Lisa Ambuski 3 5-7 12, Rachel Thompson 3 0-0 6, Breanna Peters 6 2-4 14, Brittany Renaud 0 0-0 0, Janelle Mumma 0 0-0 0, Katherine Sheeder 0 0-0 0, Maggie Sopic 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 20 7-11 48.
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
ST. MARYS 12 7 14 26 59
CLEARFIELD 13 12 10 13 48
THREE-POINTERS: Ho’ohuli 4, Anderson, Daniels, Ambuski
OFFICIALS: Emery Faith, Colin Gaiser, Kristin Stiglitz
Final 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 | 56 – 44 | 14 – 7 |
| 02/13 | CURWENSVILLE | 57 – 32 | 15 – 7 |
| D9 Playoffs | |||
| 02/23 | vs. St. Marys (H) | 48 – 59 | 15 – 8 |