HYDE — The momentum was on the side of the Lady Bison basketball squad following their come-from-behind victory on Wednesday night. The one-point victory evened their record at 3-3, which was one victory less than what they had all of last year, and still with over two months remaining in the season.
But there was not much time to savor the moment, because two nights later the Lady Bison would take to their home court looking to get above the .500 mark on the season for the first time. However, the task would be monumental, because the visiting squad were the Lady Golden Eagles of Tyrone, the favorite among all the Mountain League to win the title.
It was clear as to why, because the depth the visitors have was shown early, and often.
Tyrone would only trail one time in the entire contest, that being after an early free throw, but once they took the lead they never looked back. The Lady Bison would try and keep up, and put up a strong effort, but in the end would fall 66-40.
Head coach Joey Castagnolo was already short-handed entering the night, as one of his starters, Sam Rockmore, was out for the night after suffering an injury in Wednesday’s victory over Bellefonte. Before the game, he would mention that of the varsity squad, he only intended on dressing five players, and what he saw from his five varsity members was impressive. They would not quit no matter what the score, and he was more than pleased with the effort.
“We gave this team a battle. We’ll learn a lot from this,” Castagnolo said. “They try their best, and the effort is there, it’s just that we didn’t play good basketball. Against good teams, you have to.”
In his eyes, the biggest takeaway from the night was the ball control, or lack thereof. Clearfield would turn the ball over 33 times on the night, and not all of them were contested. Some were the results of bad passes or traveling, while others were caused by pressure on the part of the Tyrone defense.
“They are a very tough basketball team. They are going to score their points; we just turned the ball over a bit too much,” Castagnolo said. “We played tough. That team can shoot, but we just had some costly turnovers and they turned them into points. I thought we played well.
“If we cut the turnovers down, we may not have won, but we’d make a game of it.”
Tyrone made the turnovers count as they would pull out to a 34-18 lead at halftime, then would pull away in the third quarter, giving many of their starters a chance to rest and let the younger players get some minutes. Kasey Engle would lead everyone in scoring with 22 points, adding in three rebounds and five assists. Finnley Christine would account for another 18 points, while Alexis Cannistraci would lead the Lady Golden Eagles with seven boards.
On the opposite side, Rachel Glenny would have one of her best nights of the year, following up her 20-point performance on Wednesday with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Emily Ryan would lead the team with seven assists.
To start the night, the junior varsity squad lost a heart breaker on a late foul that led Tyrone to the charity stripe for three shots, two of which went through and gave the visitors a 31-30 win.
Now at 3-4, Clearfield still has some basketball left before Christmas, and it begins on Monday at home against Brookville.
“It’s a non-league game, and Brookville is very good. We just have to be better on the boards, get the turnovers down, and we’ll be fine,” Castagnolo said.
The jayvee game will start at 6 p.m. and the varsity will follow. It is also a theme night at the Bison Gymnasium as Monday’s game is “Throwback Night.” To go with the retro feel, Clearfield will don retro jerseys from the early years of Lady Bison basketball. Brookville is joining in on the throwback theme as they will wear classic uniforms as well.
“It’s going to be fun,” Castagnolo said with a smile, talking about the theme for Monday.
SCORE BY QUARTER
Tyrone 19 15 15 16 – 66
Clearfield 13 5 6 16 – 40
Tyrone 66
Mountz 0 2-2 2, Miller 0 0-0 0, Ronan 0 0-0 0, Wagner 0 0-0 0, Christine 8 0-0 18, Engle 6 7-8 22, Cannistraci 3 0-2 6, Sprankle 3 0-0 6, Shaw 2 1-2 7, Noll 2 0-1 5, Lehman 0 0-0 0, Gill 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 24 10-15 66.
Clearfield 40
Castagnolo 3 0-0 9, Cline 1 0-0 2, E. Ryan 2 2-2 6, Lindstrom 3 1-2 7, Chew 0 0-0 0, A. Ryan 1 0-0 2, Brossard 1 0-0 2, Glenny 5 2-3 12, Lansberry 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 16 5-7 40.
GAME STATISTICS
Tyrone/Clearfield
Team Rebounds: 26/29
Turnovers: 22/33
Team Fouls: 8/15
Field-Goal Shooting: 24-57/16-50
Three-Point Shots: Christine (2), Engle (3), Shaw (2), Noll; Castagnolo (3)