HYDE — On a night when Alayna Ryan became only the fifth player in the history of the Clearfield Area High School girls basketball program to cross the 1,000-point barrier, the outstanding senior point guard also almost willed the Lady Bison to what would have been a tremendous victory over a Huntingdon team that had handed them a 72-42 loss in mid-December.
Kynnedy Miller’s fifth three-pointer of the Mountain League rematch broke a 50-50 tie with 1:35 remaining, and the Lady Bearcats held on for a 54-52 win in the Bison gym Tuesday night.
Ryan reached the magic number with a defining shot that best describes her brilliant career.
She drove past all five Lady Bearcats to flip in a difficult, contested layup with 2:12 left in the third quarter and, during an immediate stoppage of play, was fittingly honored at mid-court, surrounded by her family with the hometown fans roaring their approval.
Ryan went on to finish with a game-high 28 points — her fifth game in a row with at least 22 – plus 11 rebounds, eight assists and four steals.
“So proud of her,” Clearfield coach Joey Castagnolo gushed. “She never started as a freshman. She played behind her sister (Emily) at point guard and scored 27 points.
“That just shows what working hard to get better does for you. I tell the young kids all the time, you don’t have to be a superstar as a freshman. Learn and turn it on.
“And that’s what Alayna’s done. She has God-given talent, but she’s worked hard for it.”
Ryan got a great start toward her goal in the first period with 10 of the 11 points that gave the Lady Bison a five-point edge, with Miller putting the Lady Bearcats ahead twice in the first four minutes with a pair of treys.
After a scooping layup by Ryan made it 13-6, the Lady Bearcats reeled off the next 14 points, with six by Miller and four by Kait McElroy.
Most of that run came after chief rebounder Tesa Miller exited because of a bloody nose, causing her to miss most of the last five minutes of the half.
“That’s where the game changed,” Castagnolo said.
Durandetta finally ended Clearfield’s drought by banking in a three-pointer from the left side to make it 20-16, but the Lady Bearcats outscored the Lady Bison 7-3 in the last 1:05 of the half for a 27-19 lead.
Huntingdon extended its margin to 37-26 midway through the third period before Ryan went coast-to-coast for a layup and followed up with her show-stopping bucket.
Then, she turned playmaker and dished to Emma Hipps on the left block for two layups that sliced the Lady Bison deficit to 37-34 going to the fourth quarter.
“Alayna scores and she passes and just elevates the team,” Castagnolo said. “They were so concerned about her, Emma got loose on our run.”
The Lady Bison held Huntingdon to 3-for-15 shooting in the third quarter, thanks to Castagnolo making a change to the defense to keep Miller and sophomore Paige Rhine, both taller than any Lady Bearcat, closer to the hoop.
“With that height advantage, I switched to a 2-1-2 in the second half, just to keep those girls in the box,” Castagnolo said. “And it worked well.”
Miller and Rhine wound up with 11 and 10 rebounds, respectively, to team with Ryan for a 46-38 advantage on the boards.
“Paige was a spot starter, and she understood the situation,” Castagnolo said. “She did real well.”
However, Kynnedy Miller swished another trey to trigger a 10-2 run that had Huntingdon (10-4, 7-2 ML) sitting on a 47-36 cushion with 5:26 on the clock.
Then, Ryan took charge.
She sandwiched a pass to Hipps for a layup between two free throws before driving and kicking out to Durandetta for a three-pointer that made it a four-point game.
A half minute later, Durandetta countered a McElroy trey with her fourth of the game.
“All year long, Megan’s been hitting some big threes in the third and fourth quarters, and tonight was no exception,” Castagnolo said.
Ryan came through big time with two foul shots and a layup to knot the score.
“She scores in clusters, or dishes off and we score in clusters,” said Castagnolo, who called a timeout to gather his players and explain the situation, sending them out for a box-and-one defense to key on Kynnedy Miller.
The diminutive Lady Bearcat junior foiled the strategy by utilizing a pick to get wide open at the top of the key and quickly launch a deep, deep three-pointer that found nothing but net for the game-winning shot which gave her 20 points.
“We talked in the timeout about her burying a three, and she just buried it,” Castagnolo said. “But that didn’t destroy us! We came back and had the ball at the end.”
Three misses by Lady Bearcats on the front end of one-and-one trips to the foul line gave the Lady Bison chances, but a turnover and a missed shot prevented them from putting extra pressure on the visitors.
Ryan made two clutch free throws with 35 seconds remaining, but a Lady Bearcat offensive rebound after their third trip to the charity stripe led to Rachel Kyle’s free throw with 7.4 seconds to go.
Her ensuing miss was rebounded by Tesa Miller, who quickly passed to Ryan.
The Lady Bison standout dribbled the length of the floor once again, but there was no way the Lady Bearcats were going to allow her to drive to the hoop forcing her to take an off-balance runner while falling past the end line as the buzzer sounded.
“All in all, what a game!” Castagnolo said. “That’s a quality team, and we had them. We just couldn’t finish it.
“They put it to us down there, and we were a little embarrassed. We came out focused to beat this team, and we gave them a game.
“That’s all I wanted. It was a great effort, but somebody has to lose. It was a very tough loss.”
Durandetta tallied 12 points for Clearfield (7-8, 3-6 ML), while McElroy backed Kynnedy Miller with 13 points for Huntingdon.
The Lady Bison are right back on their home floor Wednesday night to take on St. Marys (9-3) in a game that may become important for District 9 Class AAAA seedings.
Huntingdon also won the junior varsity game, 37-25. Adrian Rowles scored 10 points for Clearfield.
HUNTINGDON — 54
Kynnedy Miller 6 3-4 20, Allie Troup 2 0-0 5, Kait McElroy 4 4-5 13, Rin Reamer 0 0-0 0, Emily Kurtz 2 2- 6, Rachel Kyle 1 2-6 5, Maddie DeForrest 1 0-0 2, Lexi Troup 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 17 12-21 54.
CLEARFIELD — 52
Megan Durandetta 4 0-0 12, Emma Hipps 3 0-0 6, Tesa Miller 1 1-2 3, Alayna Ryan 8 11-14 28, Paige Rhine 1 0-1 2, Olivia Bender 0 0-0 0, Kylie VanTassel 0 1-2 1, Adrian Rowles 0 0-2 0, McLain Alt 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 17 13-21 52.
Three-Point Field Goals – Huntingdon 8 (Miller 5, A. Troup 1, McElroy 1, Kyle 1); Clearfield 5 (Durandetta 4, Ryan 1).
Score by Quarters
Huntingdon 6 21 10 17 – 54
Clearfield 11 8 15 18 – 52
Officials – Dave Blair, Barry Abbott and Chuck Pasternak.
Lady Bison Scoreboard:
Date Opponent Score Record
12/07 & 08 @ Brookville Tip-off Tourney
12/07 vs. Brookville 30 – 54 0 – 1
12/08 vs. Clarion-Limestone 58 – 30 1 – 1
12/11 @ Bald Eagle Area 27 – 31 1 – 2
12/14 @ Huntingdon 42 – 72 1 – 3
12/17 BROOKVILLE 57 – 53 2 – 3
12/19 PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA 59 – 50 3 – 3
12/21 @ Tyrone 17 – 73 3 – 4
12/27 CURWENSVILLE 60 – 36 4 – 4
01/04 @ Punxsutawney 27 – 50 4 – 5
01/08 PENNS VALLEY 32 – 71 4 – 6
01/11 @ Central 54 – 37 5 – 6
01/14 DUBOIS 42 – 40 ot 6 – 6
01/16 BELLEFONTE 54 – 48 6 – 7
01/18 BALD EAGLE AREA 43 – 38 7 – 7
01/22 HUNTINGDON 52 – 54 7 – 8
01/23 ST. MARYS
01/25 @ Philipsburg-Osceola
01/30 TYRONE
02/01 @ Penns Valley
02/05 CENTRAL
02/08 @ Bellefonte
02/12 @ Curwensville