CLEARFIELD — The Clearfield Area High School girls basketball team was too athletic and had way too much firepower for backyard rival Curwensville in the Bison Gymnasium Thursday night.
The Lady Bison were just over 50 percent with 36 field goals as every starter scored at least 10 points in an 80-30 non-conference romp that enabled coach Joey Castagnolo to check off the first of his preseason goals, double-figure wins.
The last time one of his teams lit up the scoreboard like that was Feb. 6, 2006, in an 82-42 win over Philipsburg-Osceola.
“We were on fire,” Castagnolo said after the Lady Bison improved to 10-11 with the fourth victory in their last six outings. “I‘m just so happy all the starters scored in double figures.”
Castagnolo said it’s been many years since he could make that statement.
Senior Rachel Glenny claimed scoring laurels with 20 points, mostly with transition baskets on pinpoint passing by classmate Emily Ryan or putbacks.
Sophomore Brooke Cline also was a beneficiary of Clearfield’s up-tempo offense that generated easy two after easy two, finishing with a career-high 16 points and 11 rebounds for her first double-double.
Ryan shook off an early ankle injury to register 11 points and nine assists, while senior Margo Castagnolo also had 11 points, including a trio of three-pointers, and junior Ally Lindstrom chipped in 10 points.
“What I liked, we saw the floor,” coach Castagnolo said. “Emily, our leader, was able to find Rachel and Brooke with long passes. The left-handed option with Brooke was open all night.”
Ahead 6-4 after two minutes, Clearfield broke away with the next nine points, five by Glenny before Ryan drove for two and then found Nikki Brossard wide open underneath for her first helper.
The Lady Bison began the second period with a 9-2 run for a 24-8 led en route to a 41-17 halftime cushion and remained in high gear in the third quarter with 25 points.
The running clock began when Niki Chew banked in a short one-hander with 7:35 left in the non-league game.
Chew also had seven rebounds and five steals while Brossard had seven rebounds and six points as the Lady Bison reserves made the most of their extended playing time.
“I’ve really been happy the way the bench has been playing,” coach Castagnolo said. “They know how I feel about them replacing my starters for breaks. It doesn’t seem they (starters) are out. That’s how much I depend on them now.”
Christine Limbert had a double-double for Curwensville (2-16) with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
“I try to emphasize to our girls that no matter how bad it seems, you’ve gotta keep playing hard,” Lady Tide coach Eric Duriancik said. “You have to keep going. You have to battle through it. Christine came out with a real good attitude and a real good effort at the beginning of the second half. I know that’s tough to do.”
So was the Lady Tide’s struggle against the Lady Bison’s ability to convert defensive rebounds into quick, and oft-times easy, points.
“We stress transition defense, but sometimes when they’re that athletic, it doesn’t do you any good,” he said. “They just were able to beat us down the floor. And when you do that, you get a lot of high percentage shots. So, that’s a credit to them.”
The Lady Bison outrebounded the Lady Tide 37-21 and were guilty of only seven turnovers.
Both teams are right back in action Friday as Lady Bison celebrate Senior Night in their Mountain League and regular season finale against Philipsburg-Osceola while the Lady Tide make the long trip to Kane for their Allegheny Mountain League finale before closing out the hectic week with a Moshannon Valley League road game against Moshannon Valley Saturday afternoon.
Clearfield’s junior varsity, led by Brossard’s 14 points, coasted to a 32-8 win.
CURWENSVILLE — 30
Shauna Guy 1 0-0 2, Hannah Dixon 2 2-4 7, Christine Limbert 5 0-0 10, Madison Weber 3 1-4 7, Nikki Wormuth 1 0-0 2, Kristina McCracken 0 0-0 0, Mikayla Warren 1 0-0 2, Madison Olson 0 0-0 0, Heidi Rowles 0 0-0 0, Maddie McCracken 0 0-0 0, Kaitlyn McCracken 0 0-0 0, Britney Wagner 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 13 3-8 30.
CLEARFIELD — 80
Ally Lindstrom 5 0-0 10, Brooke Cline 8 0-1 16, Rachel Glenny 9 2-4 20, Margo Castagnolo 4 0-0 11, Emily Ryan 4 3-4 11, Alayna Ryan 1 0-0 2, Nikki Brossard 3 0-0 6, Niki Chew 1 0-0 2, Kate Lansberry 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 36 5-9 80.
Three-Point Field Goals – Clearfield 3 (Castagnolo 3); Curwensville 1 (Dixon).
Score by Quarters
Curwensville 6 11 11 2 – 30
Clearfield 15 26 25 14 – 80
Officials – Dave Blair, Barry Abbott and Chuck Pasternak.