Ryan Sparkles as Lady Bison Cage Lady Lions 64-22

BROOKVILLE — Sophomore Alayna Ryan flipped in 26 points and racked up 11 steals and seven assists as the Clearfield Area High School girls basketball team proved way too quick and speedy for Clarion-Limestone in a 64-22 victory that opened the 24th annual Brookville Tip Off Tournament Friday afternoon.

The Lady Bison piled up an astronomical 25 steals in all, and most of them turned into easy points with Ryan, Brooke Cline, Ally Lindstrom and Nikki Brossard all cashing in the layups and peeps.

“That’s what I was looking for, and I just liked the way everyone played unselfishly,” a very happy coach Joey Castagnolo beamed after the Lady Bison earned their first title game appearance in four years. “That’s the way we run the floor and get high percentage shots.”

Everything that went in for the Lady Bison was from inside 10 feet, with the bulk coming right under the hoop. They changed the scoreboard on eight of 10 attempts in the second quarter to finish the first half 16-for-28, good for a whopping 36-10 bulge.

They weren’t quite as proficient in the second half but did wind up 30-for-63.

Cline was the only other Lady Bison in double figures with 12 points, but Lindstrom and Brossard were close with eight apiece.

When the starters were on the floor together, Clearfield reeled off 18 consecutive points to begin the game and then opened the final three quarters with runs of 14, 16 and 10 points.

The Lady Bison overwhelmed the youthful Lady Lions, who have only one senior and two juniors, in the first six minutes, forcing turnovers on their first 13 possessions.

Ten were steals, four by Ryan, three by Cline, two by Niki Chew and one by Lindstrom.

Ryan took three right to the rack while netting 10 consecutive points in less than three minutes after assisting on two fast-break scores. Cline accounted for the first four points on a runout and layup off a Ryan feed.

In the second period run, Cline converted two Ryan passes while Lindstrom tossed in a runner and a pair of layups.

Four baskets by Ryan and two by Cline fueled the third-quarter streak that had Clearfield up 52-13 when Castagnolo cleared the bench with two minutes left.

The starters logged just over four minutes in the fourth period with Ryan netting six points and passing to Brossard for the other four.

Junior Karlie Gisewhite and freshmen Tesa Miller, Alyssa Serena, McClain Alt and Alexis Clark wound up playing more than 10 minutes in their varsity debuts.

“I subbed more than I thought we would,” Castagnolo said. “I just would have liked to not have had a full exchange of five for five.

“I would have liked Tesa in more with the starters. And Gisewhite, too. But it just didn’t work out that way.”

Chew and Miller were Clearfield’s top rebounders with six apiece, one more than Brossard.

The Lady Bison will be back in the Brookville Area High School gym again Saturday to seek their first tourney championship in a 5:30 tipoff against North Clarion, which toppled Brookville 59-40.

CLEARFIELD — 64

Nikki Brossard 3 2-2 8, Niki Chew 2 0-0 4, Brooke Cline 6 0-0 12, Alayna Ryan 13 0-0 26, Ally Lindstrom 4 0-0 8, Tesa Miller 2 0-2 4, Karlie Gisewhite 1 0-0 2, Alyssa Serena 0 0-0 0, McClain Alt 0 0-0 0, Alexis Clark 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 31 2-4 64.

CLARIONO-LIMESTONE — 22

Paige Aaron 4 0-0 10, Anna Burns 0 0-0 0 Morgan Clark 1 1-4 3, Maddy Craig 2 1-2 5, Ashley Daugherty 0 0-0 0, Jess Ball 2 0-0 4, Sarah Acree 0 0-0 0, Abby Simpson 0 0-0 0, Emma Smith 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 9 2-6 22.

Three-Point Field Goals – Clarion-Limestone 2 (Aaron 2).

Score by Quarters

Clearfield 20 16 16 12 – 64
Clarion-Limestone 4 6 7 5 – 22

Officials – John Fricker, Rich Rhoades and Ron Dolby.

Lady Bison Scoreboard: