HYDE– The long ride home from Bellefonte on Thursday night was a tough one for Clearfield as the Lady Bison were reeling from a game where they fell behind early, and never found anything to get them going. The Lady Raiders doubled them up in the scoreboard, 50-25, making it a sour night for the girls. But, they had to put that game in the back of their minds, because they still had to return to their own hardwood on Friday night inside the Bison Gymnasium.
Although the game itself was in the back of their minds, the opponent was not, because now Bellefonte made their trip to Clearfield for the second round. This time, Clearfield found an early spark, after falling behind, and slowly began reeling in their Mountain League foe. Bit by bit, they got closer, but not enough time remained to make a final run. After 32 minutes, Clearfield ran out of seconds, falling again to Bellefonte, 42-34.
“It was absolutely a different game compared to last night,” Clearfield Head Coach Joey Castagnolo said afterwards. “We played a faster pace, but what cost us tonight was we didn’t make the shots we needed to. All night long, we had great looks. The ball just didn’t fall in the net.”
Castagnolo was not denying the fact his team played hard, almost leaving everything they had on the court, but early on the Lady Bison fell behind. The interesting aspect was neither team had a real strong start, as it took over three minutes before the first basket fell. But, that basket by Bellefonte was the only lead change to occur. After falling behind 9-0 in the opening quarter, a timeout by Clearfield started to change things. The starters did not hit a basket until just under 1:30 remaining in the frame, but it was a key substitution by Alayna Winters that suddenly gave Clearfield some life.
Right after checking in, she managed a quick steal that led Clearfield to a basket, and they would finish the first quarter with a 6-3 run to cut the lead in half.
“That’s something we needed from the bench tonight. When she came in, she was that ‘spark plug’ that ignited us,” Castagnolo said.
Still, Bellefonte again would dominate the second quarter, taking a 10-point lead into halftime. However, Clearfield was not going quietly as a key dish into Cayleigh Walker right before the final buzzer gave the Lady Bison a lot of momentum into the locker room, especially since they would get the ball to start the third quarter. That, again, proved vital as the Lady Bison started clawing back, utilizing open opportunities, and capitalizing on turnovers, to hold the 10-point gap after three quarters.
That was when capitalizing on opportunities became important, and Riley Ryen did just that as she would score eight of her team-high 13 points in the second half, with five of them coming on free throws.
In the second half alone, Clearfield went to the charity stripe 14 times, only missing three shots.
But, the lead that Bellefonte built up early on was too much. Maddie Tice had too many open looks in the opening frame, scoring 10 of her game-high 16 points, while also adding in seven boards and three assists. At the same time, Bella Corman would take advantage on missed shots as she had a game-high 10 rebounds. Clearfield only went 9-for-55 from the floor, despite getting good looks.
“All those shots were there,” Castagnolo said. “They just wouldn’t go in. I think if we had made a couple of those early three’s from Megan (Durandetta), we would have a different situation. We just couldn’t get the ball in the basket tonight.”
When asked if his team was getting fatigued in the second half, Castagnolo gave a quick “No, not at all” answer, pointing out how quickly they were pushing the pace on defense. Considering how they were playing more of a woman-on-woman defense in the final quarter, and the pace in which they were forcing turnovers, the fatigue factor never set in, and Clearfield kept trimming the lead down to six points with just over a minute remaining. But, Clearfield missed a couple key rebounds, and a late foul by Paige Rhine that caused her to hit five for the game allowed Bellefonte to hit a pair of free throws to put the game out of range.
Clearfield did come away with a 35-26 triumph in the opening jayvee game.
Castagnolo’s team has been tested a lot this season, with games postponed because of weather, or because of Covid-related restrictions. Practices were not as plentiful, and playing so many games in so little time could have easily made the team weary. But, with one game remaining in the season, having a 9-11 record and a potential playoff birth certainly made the 2021 season one to remember.
“You know, the girls battled a lot. We lost four starters from last year, we couldn’t play summer league, but the girls are tough,” Castagnolo said.
The final game of the season is a bit different for Clearfield, as it will come as a Saturday matinee in the Bison Gym against the Lady Eagles of Bald Eagle. There haven’t been many weekend games for the Lady Bison this season, something Castagnolo actually was perfectly fine with. But he made it clear what his team was planning on doing in it’s regular-season finale.
“I’m not a big fan of Saturday games, to be honest. However, no matter what, we are coming in, and taking care of business,” he said with authority.
Tip-off against Bald Eagle is set for 2 p.m.
SCORE BY QUARTER
Bellefonte 12 9 12 9 – 42
Clearfield 6 5 12 11 – 34
BELLEFONTE – 42
Lily Gardner 0 1-2 1, Mia Johnson 2 2-5 7, Emalee Neff 3 0-0 6, Maddie Tice 4 7-11 16, Bella Corman 3 0-2 6, Sara Dehaas 3 0-0 6, Hana Radas 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 15 10-20 42.
CLEARFIELD – 34
Riley Ryen 3 5-6 13, Cayleigh Walker 2 2-2 6, Emma Hipps 1 5-6 7, Paige Rhine 1 0-0 2, Megan Durandetta 1 0-0 3, Lauryn Kitchen 0 0-0 0, Alaina Fedder 0 0-0 0, Alayna Winters 1 1-2 3. TOTALS 9 13-16 34.
GAME STATISTICS
Bellefonte/Clearfield
Shooting: 15-47/9-55
Rebounds: 37/29
Fouls: 11/16
Turnovers: 19/11
Three-Point Shots: Johnson, Tice/Ryen-2, Durandetta
Foul Out: Rhine