BROOKVILLE — Shocked was the buzzword coach Joey Castagnolo used several times while dissecting the Clearfield Area High School girls basketball team’s 43-25 loss to North Clarion in the opener of the 21st Brookville Tip-Off Tournament Friday.
The first time was when he assessed the way the Lady Bison played.
“We weren’t focused,” he continued. “We came out flat. We never got into the flow of our game.”
North Clarion turned an early two-point edge lead into a 15-2 bulge with 11 consecutive points during a stretch of two-and-a-half minutes late in the first quarter and never looked back.
“They got that run and we just never got that spark like I thought these kids would have. But it’s the first game, maybe opening day jitters.”
Tori Obenrader, a 5-11 freshman, spurred the Wolves’ charge with seven of her 21 points.
She also pulled down 11 missed shots as the taller Wolves outrebounded the Lady Bison by almost a two-to-one margin.
Two other underclassmen who are listed at 5-11 helped the Wolves amass 48 rebounds, junior Abbie Schmader grabbing 10 and sophomore Cassie Wagner snaring seven.
Castagnolo knew rebounding would be an issue for the Lady Bison, who have no player taller than 5-8.
“Against a team with size, you saw it,” he said. “I was concerned when I was watching them in warm-ups. I thought, ‘Boy, we might be in for a long night.’ And my nightmare came true.”
Aggressive under the glass at both ends of the floor, the Wolves expanded the margin to 24-7 in the second quarter before Samantha Rockmore’s free throw and Maggie Sopic’s one-hander from the top of the key got Clearfield into double figures, making it 24-10 at the half.
The Lady Bison hit only two of 26 shots, with one field goal in each period.
“And it didn‘t get any better in the second half,” Castagnolo noted.
Actually, the Lady Bison were 5-for-13 in the third quarter, buckets by Rachel Glenny and Emily Ryan sandwiched a foul shot by Sopic to finally get the deficit under 10 at 28-19 at the 4:18 mark.
“They didn’t give up,” Castagnolo said. “We had the nice little run and I thought maybe we’re going to get into this.”
Glenny answered an easy two by Wagner, but North Clarion scored the final four points of the quarter and put it away with the only nine points, seven by Obenrader, in the first 6:12 of the fourth quarter.
Castagnolo said the Wolves were much, much better than he anticipated because Schmader and Wagner were the only returnees from a team the Lady Bison defeated 47-38 in the tourney’s consolation game a year ago.
“They lost four seniors that scored 32 against us,” he pointed out. “I’m just shocked they came back that strong.”
One last shocker for Castagnolo was learning Clearfield canned only seven of 22 free throws.
“We talked about shooting 68 percent at the line,” he said. “We weren’t close to 50 percent.”
Mary Ishman cashed four foul shots to lead the Lady Bison with six points.
The Lady Bison must regroup in a hurry, for they return to the BAHS gym Saturday for the 2 p.m. consolation game against Clarion-Limestone, which lost to Brookville, 70-22.
Photos from the game can be viewed here: http://www.ladybisonsports.org/lbsbball120514.html
CLEARFIELD — 25
Emily Aveni 1 0-0 2, Emily Ryan 1 0-0 2, Maggie Sopic 1 1-3 3, Mary Ishman 1 4-8 6, Margo Castagnolo 1 0-0 2, Rachel Glenny 2 1-4 5, Samantha Rockmore 0 1-2 2, Tessa Waring 1 0-0 2, Janessa Riddell 1 0-0 2, Ally Lindstrom 0 0-2 2, Chesney Boal 0 0-0 0, Brooke Cline 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 9 7-22 25.
NORTH CLARION — 43
Ashton Obenrader 1 0-0 2, Abbie Schmader 4 0-0 9, Taylor Gatesman 0 0-0 0, Cassie Wagner 2 0-0 4, Tori Obenrader 9 2-6 21, Ally Carll 0 3-4 3, Morgan Mays 0 0-0 0, Erika Sherman 0 0-0 0, Brittany Wurster 0 0-0 0, Michaela Higgins 0 0-0 0, Sarah Schettler 2 0-0 4, Miranda Flick 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 18 5-10 43.
Three-Point Field Goals – North Clarion 2 (Schmader, T. Obenrader).
Score by Quarters
Clearfield 4 6 11 4 – 25
North Clarion 15 9 10 9 – 43
Officials – John Fricker, Rich Rhoades and Ron Dolby.
Lady Bison Scoreboard:
Date Opponent Score Record 12/05 @ Brookville Tip-off Tourney vs. Northern Clarion 25 – 43 0 – 1 12/06 Clarion-Limestone 12/10 @ Central 12/12 HUNTINGDON 12/15 PUNXSUTAWNEY 12/16 BELLEFONTE 12/19 @ Tyrone 12/22 @ Brookville 12/29 CURWENSVILLE 01/05 @ Punxsutawney 01/07 BALD EAGLE AREA 01/09 @ Penns Valley 01/13 PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA 01/16 ST. MARYS 01/21 CENTRAL 01/23 @ Huntingdon 01/27 @ Bellefonte 01/30 TYRONE 02/04 @ Bald Eagle Area 02/06 PENNS VALLEY 02/10 @ Philipsburg-Osceola 02/13 @ Curwensville