PHILIPSBURG — The Clearfield Area High School girls basketball team got off to a great start for a 12-point lead at the end of the first quarter, but Halle Herrington matched their output over the final three periods to finish with 44 points and propel Philipsburg-Osceola to a 70-62 victory in Mountain League action Friday night.
Three players accounted for all 25 of the Lady Bison points in the first quarter, Alayna Ryan with 10, Megan Durandetta with eight and Brooke Cline with seven.
Ryan went on to have an outstanding game with a season-high 23 points, 10 assists and six rebounds, while Durandetta had a career-high 18 points and Cline finished with 13.
Durandetta, already the most prolific freshman three-point shooter, buried five shots from behind the arc for the second time this season. She has a total of 46.
Herrington, who had totaled 130 points in five previous games against the Lady Bison, three of which were decided by four points or less, had seven points in the first period and added nine in the second quarter to help the Lady Mounties close to within 39-33 by intermission.
The junior scoring machine really heated up in the second half, netting 15 of the Lady Mounties’ 20 points in the third quarter and 13 of their 17 in the final eight minutes.
“Herrington took over in the second half,” Clearfield coach Joey Castagnolo said. “She kept driving to the hoop, and we couldn’t stop her. She had the ball 90 percent of the time in the fourth quarter and made all seven free throws.”
He wasn’t disappointed in the effort by the Lady Bison, who dipped to 7-14 and finished 5-9 in the league.
“We played really hard and really well,” he said. “We just couldn’t get shots to drop in the fourth quarter. And we had all the looks we wanted.
“It was a very tough loss.”
Kyleigh Kennedy had 12 points and Lacey Potter added 10 for the Lady Mounties, who finished 8-14 with a 4-10 ML record.
The Lady Bison will close the regular season at home against backyard rival Curwensville Tuesday before turning their attention to the District 9 Class AAAA Playoffs.
In the prelim, McLain Alt scored eight points for the Clearfield junior varsity in a 46-27 loss.
Mountain League Final Standings — Central 13-1, Penns Valley 12-2, Tyrone 11-3, Huntingdon 8-6, Clearfield 5-9, Philipsburg-Osceola 4-10, Bellefonte 2-12, Bald Eagle Area 1-13.
CLEARFIELD — 62
Brooke Cline 6 0-0 13, Megan Durandetta 5 3-6 18, Nikki Brossard 2 2-2 6, Alayna Ryan 8 5-7 23, Tesa Miller 1 0-0 2, Karlie Gisewhite 0 0-0 0, McLain Alt 0 0-0 0, Paige Rhine 0 0-0 0, Adrian Rowles 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 22 10-15 62.
PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA — 70
Halle Herrington 15 10-12 44, Cassidy Hughes 1 0-0 2, Lacey Potter 4 0-0 10, Kyleigh Kennedy 6 0-0 12, Samantha Bainey 0 2-2 2, Loryn Hughes 0 0-0 0, Lindsey Bordas 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 26 12-14 70.
Three-Point Field Goals — Clearfield 8 (Cline 1, Durandetta 5, Ryan 2); Philipsburg-Osceola (Herrington 4, Potter 2).
Score by Quarters
Clearfield 25 14 9 14 – 62
Philipsburg-Osceola 13 20 20 17 – 70
Lady Bison Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/09 | @ Brookville Tip-off Tourney | ||
| 12/09 | vs. North Clarion | 51 – 58 | 0 – 1 |
| 12/10 | vs. Clarion-Limestone | 60 – 19 | 1 – 1 |
| 12/13 | @ Central | 30 – 46 | 1 – 2 |
| 12/15 | HUNTINGDON | 32 – 54 | 1 – 3 |
| 12/18 | @ Brookville | 48 – 65 | 1 – 4 |
| 12/19 | BELLEFONTE | 51 – 42 | 2 – 4 |
| 12/22 | @ DuBois | 36 – 41 | 2 – 5 |
| 12/28 | @ Curwensville | 45 – 15 | 3 – 5 |
| 01/03 | PUNXSUTAWNEY | 24 – 41 | 3 – 6 |
| 01/05 | @ Tyrone | ppd. | 3 – 6 |
| 01/09 | BALD EAGLE AREA | 45 – 22 | 4 – 6 |
| 01/12 | @ Penns Valley | 30 – 53 | 4 – 7 |
| 01/15 | @ St. Marys | 35 – 53 | 4 – 8 |
| 01/17 | PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA | 65 – 58 | 5 – 8 |
| 01/19 | CENTRAL | 26 – 40 | 5 – 9 |
| 01/20 | @ Tyrone | 37 – 60 | 5 – 10 |
| 01/23 | @ Huntingdon | 50 – 55 | 5 – 11 |
| 01/26 | @ Bellefonte | 62 – 60 | 6 – 11 |
| 01/31 | TYRONE | 41 – 65 | 6 – 12 |
| 02/02 | @ Bald Eagle Area | 35 – 33 | 7 – 12 |
| 02/06 | PENNS VALLEY | 42 – 46 | 7 – 13 |
| 02/09 | @ Philipsburg-Osceola | 62 – 70 | 7 – 14 |
| 02/13 | CURWENSVILLE |