ST. MARYS — The one thing the Clearfield Area High School girls basketball team absolutely could not afford in Friday night’s rematch with No. 2 seed St. Marys in the District Class AAAA semifinal was a repeat of the poor shooting percentage that resulted in a regular season setback.
But the Lady Bison missed replicating that number, 26, by the slimmest of margins after a nightmarish first half and suffered a season-ending 46-38 loss in the Dutch Oven.
They made only four of 28 shots in the first 16 minutes, which resulted in a huge deficit, 27-11, that just was too much to overcome.
“It seemed like we didn’t come out with any intensity, and with a team like that, with their quickness, they’ll bury you fast,” Clearfield coach Joey Castagnolo said. “That’s what happened the first game up there.”
The Lady Bison did own a 7-3 lead after four minutes with Alayna Ryan hitting two shots, including one of her four three-pointers, and firing a long pass to Brooke Cline for a fast-break layup.
Then, they went ice cold, failing to score for more than seven minutes.
St. Marys closed the first quarter with nine points in a row and quickly extended the lead to 16-7 by cashing in two of Clearfield’s 13 first-half turnovers, five of which came on consecutive possessions early in the second quarter.
“They are the quickest team, by far, that we faced all year,” Castagnolo said. “And they utilize that so well with their traps. They know how to play that defense.”
After Lady Bison Megan Durandetta canned her freshman-record 48th three-pointer from the right corner, the Lady Dutch went on another run, 11-1, for the 16-point cushion at intermission.
Seven Lady Dutch scored at least two points, led by Megan Quesenberry with seven and Kaylee Muccio and Abigail Adamski with five apiece.
Quesenberry, a sophomore who came off the bench, went on to top St. Marys with 16 points, and Muccio tallied 10.
Clearfield was guilty of three more turnovers and two more missed shots before Nikki Brossard tossed in a short jumper two minutes into the third period.
“We started the third quarter sloppy, too, and I was really concerned then,” Castagnolo said. “They could have called it a night, but they never quit and they didn’t give up.
“All of a sudden, they got kind of a spark. We got a couple of steals, and away we went.”
Right back into the game.
The Lady Bison turned that burst of energy into a 15-1 run that Ryan fueled with 13 points, bracketing the rally with three-pointers and adding two jumpers from just inside the arc. She also assisted on Tesa Miller’s basket.
“We really played well defensively in that quarter,” Castagnolo said. “I thought they were trying to take some time off the clock, so we extended our zone a little bit and kind of matched up with them out front. And Alayna took over.”
Bekka Bauer’s two free throws at the outset of the final period had the Lady Dutch ahead, 37-28, but the Lady Bison really turned up the heat with Miller’s short jumper and Cline’s layup making it a five-point difference and still plenty of time left.
Unfortunately, the Lady Bison were unable to change their side of the scoreboard for almost three minutes, and Muccio expanded the Lady Dutch lead to 43-32 with two foul shots and two field goals from point-blank range.
Ryan drove for Clearfield’s last field goal with 3:25 remaining, and pairs of free throws by Ryan and Cline around a Quesenberry drive set the final score with 1:04 to go.
“They really turned up their defense in the last three minutes,” Castagnolo said.
Ryan finished with a game-high 22 points, even though St. Marys went box-and-one a lot to try to contain her.
One of the premier all-around point guards in the region, the junior also had five assists, five rebounds and five steals.
Miller, a sophomore post, excelled under the boards with 10 rebounds.
Cline, who had seven points, Brossard and top reserve Karlie Gisewhite will be graduating in June.
“I’m gonna miss them,” Castagnolo said.
The Lady Bison wound up 8-15.
St. Marys (12-11) will play No. 1 seed Punxsutawney (17-5) in the championship game next week.
CLEARFIELD — 38
Tesa Miller 2 0-0 4, Megan Durandetta 1 0-0 3, Alayna Ryan 8 2-5 22, Nikki Brossard 1 0-0 2, Brooke Cline 2 3-4 7. Karlie Gisewhite 0 0-0 0, Adrian Rowles 0 0-0 0, Paige Rhine 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 14 5-9 38.
ST. MARYS — 46
Kaylee Muccio 4 2-2 10, Abigail Adamski 3 1-2 7, Allison Schlimm 0 0-0 0, Samantha Hayes 0 0-1 0, Bekka Bauer 1 3-4 5, Megan Quesenberry 7 0-0 16, Lauren Eckert 1 0-0 2, Amanda Foster 2 1-1 6. TOTALS: 18 7-11 46.
Three-Point Field Goals — Clearfield 5 (Durandetta 1, Ryan 4). St. Marys 3 (Foster 1, Quesensberry 2),
Score by Quarters
Clearfield 7 4 17 10 – 38
St. Marys 12 15 8 11 – 46
Officials – Chip Mason, Brian Nolan and Dave Furman.