HUNTINGDON – The Clearfield girls basketball team played three quality quarters of basketball Friday night at Huntingdon before going cold in the final deciding eight minutes.
The Lady Bison took a one point lead into the fourth, 24-23, but could only muster five points in the final frame before dropping a heartbreaker to the Lady Bearcats, 34-29, who improved to 10-4 on the 2013-14 campaign.
The Lady Bearcats, on December 13 in Clearfield, defeated the Lady Bison in the two teams other meeting this season, 39-23.
Clearfield had its best defensive effort of the year as emphatically stated by Lady Bison head coach Joey Castagnolo after the game, “Just a wonderful defensive effort by these kids. Again, just a great effort by everyone tonight.”
The Lady Bison jumped out to a 3-0 lead on a three-pointer by senior Brianna Spencer and held Huntingdon scoreless until there was 2:34 left in the opening quarter.
Clearfield took a one point margin into the second quarter 7-6 and once again the defense stepped up, limiting the Lady Bearcats to just four points.
With only giving up 10 first half tallies, Clearfield found itself with just a 14-10 lead at halftime as Huntingdon also turned in a good defensive effort, keeping themselves in the game.
Spencer gave Clearfield its biggest lead of the night, 17-10, after hitting another trey with only 9 seconds off of the third quarter clock.
The rest of the third stanza went back and forth between the two squads with Huntingdon having a 23-22 lead with 1:27 left in the third.
Lady Bison sophomore Victoria Ireland took back the lead for her squad, scoring a basket with just 40 seconds left in the period, which gave the Bison a 24-23 margin going into the final eight minutes.
Huntingdon opened the fourth period on an 8-0 run to gain its biggest lead of the evening, 31-24. A lead they would not relinquish the rest of the way.
Sarah Lash scored Clearfield’s first points of the quarter with 4:40 remaining in the contest to cut the Lady Bearcat lead to 31-26.
That would be the closest the Bison would come in their bid for the upset.
Spencer paced the Bison offense with nine points on three treys.
Shannon Henney and Samantha Mansberger each had nine for Huntingdon. Henney had all of her nine points in the third period.
Castagnolo summed up the night, saying, “Huntingdon got a lot of second chance opportunities and seemed to gather in all the loose balls, especially in the fourth quarter.”
The Clearfield junior varsity improved to 7-5 on the year under coach Jerry Stewart as they beat the Lady Bearcats, 39-26. Ally Lindstrom had 13 points for Clearfield.
Clearfield (3-12) will host Bald Eagle Area on Tuesday night with JV action starting at 6 pm and the varsity to immediately follow.
The Lady Bison defeated BEA on December 17, 39-32, on the Lady Eagles’ home floor.
Listen to Clearfield-Bald Eagle Area girls basketball on Tuesday night on WOKW-FM, 102.9, with the pre-game show beginning at 7:15 pm.
CLEARFIELD – 29
Brianna Spencer 3 0-0 9, Emily Ryan 2 2-5 6, Emily Aveni 2 2-4 6, Maggie Sopic 1 0-0 2, Victoria Ireland 1 0-0 2, Sarah Aycock 0 0-0 0, Margo Castagnolo 0 0-0 0, Sarah lash 1 0-0 2, Rachel Glenny 1 0-0 2, TOTALS – 11 4-9 29.
HUNTINGDON – 34
Katie Kurtz 2 1-2 6, Logan Felton 3 0-1 6, Shannon Henney 4 0-0 9, Samantha Mansberger 4 1-4 9, Bri Rivello 1 2-5 4, Jacinda Jenkins 0 0-0 0, Ellie Keller 0 0-0 0, Janay McCrum 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 14 4-12 34.
THREE-POINTERS: Spencer 3, Kurtz, Henney
SCORE BY QUARTERS
CLEARFIELD 7 7 10 5 29
HUNTINGDON 6 4 13 11 34
OFFICIALS: Tom Culp, Denny Detwiler, Stanley Risser
Lady Bison Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| @ Brookville Tip-Off Tourney | |||
| 12/06 | vs. Brookville | ppd. | 0 – 0 |
| 12/07 | vs. Brookville | 18 – 45 | 0 – 1 |
| 12/07 | vs. North Clarion | 47 – 38 | 1 – 1 |
| 12/11 | CENTRAL | 35 – 54 | 1 – 2 |
| 12/13 | HUNTINGDON | 23 – 39 | 1 – 3 |
| 12/16 | @ Punxsutawney | 24 – 66 | 1 – 4 |
| 12/17 | @ Bald Eagle Area | 39 – 32 | 2 – 4 |
| 12/20 | BELLEFONTE | 25 – 27 | 2 – 5 |
| 12/27 | @ Curwensville | 46 – 50 ot | 2 – 6 |
| 01/03 | PUNXSUTAWNEY | 39 – 63 | 2 – 7 |
| 01/08 | @ Tyrone | 41 – 60 | 2 – 8 |
| 01/10 | PENNS VALLEY | 33 – 42 | 2 – 9 |
| 01/15 | @ Philipsburg-Osceola | 57 – 60 | 2 – 10 |
| 01/17 | @ St. Marys | 32 – 36 | 2 – 11 |
| 01/21 | @ Central | ppd. | 2 – 11 |
| 01/23 | CENTRAL MOUNTAIN | 45 – 28 | 3 – 11 |
| 01/24 | @ Huntingdon | 29 – 34 | 3 – 12 |
| 01/28 | BALD EAGLE AREA | ||
| 01/30 | @ Central | ||
| 01/31 | @ Bellefonte | ||
| 02/04 | TYRONE | ||
| 02/07 | @ Penns Valley | ||
| 02/10 | CURWENSVILLE | ||
| 02/11 | PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA |