BROOKVILLE – After taking a 37-30 lead into the fourth quarter, Clarion-Limestone surrendered their lead to the Lady Bison before getting it back in a 51-45 thriller that saw the Lady Lions defeat Clearfield.
The contest was the third-place game of the Brookville Tip-Off Tournament as the Lions improved their season record to 1-1 while Clearfield fell to 0-2 to begin the campaign.
Clarion-Limestone used an intense press and pressure defense to take a 28-21 lead heading into halftime. First-year head coach Missy Helsel for the second consecutive game made key halftime adjustments that helped to spark a run to get the Lady Bison right back into the game. This included increased pressure defense of their own which led to some easy baskets and several turnovers by Clarion-Limestone, especially in the fourth-quarter.
“I think the press worked well at times,” said Helsel. “But at other times, I think we were a little bit laxed. Slowing down and getting into a better rhythm on offense is going to be something else that will help us moving forward. I also think turnovers and rebounding really hurt us in both games.”
Clearfield also experienced some woes at the free-throw line which will be another point of emphasis for the team as they head into the second week of the season.
“Our free throw percentage was not good today,” said Helsel. “We work on that a lot and have over the last couple of weeks, so we are going to continue to do that and get some additional shooting time in.”
Despite a valiant effort in the second-half against Clarion-Limestone, it was too late as Clearfield dug themselves a double-digit deficit at points in the first-half which they were once again unable to overcome.
“I think our girls played exceptional in the second-half in both of those games,” said Clearfield Head Coach Missy Helsel. “I am proud that they didn’t quit on us. We played right to the very end of both games.”
The Lady Lions were paced in scoring by four double-figure scorers, including a game-high 18 points from Alex Leadbetter. Frances Million chipped in with 11 points for Clarion-Limestone, while teammates Kendall Dunn and Alyssa Wiant each recorded 10.
Clearfield had three players score double-digits with Cayleigh Walker leading the way with 12 points on the afternoon. Emma Hipps and Riley Ryen each contributed 11 points, with the duo combining for four of the six three-pointers for the Lady Bison in the game. Lauryn Kitchen was able to score all six of her points on two from behind-the-arc, with the scoring for Clearfield being rounded-out by three points from Hannah Glunt and a two-point bucket from Alaina Fedder.
Clearfield will return to action on Tuesday, December 14 as they travel to face Phillipsburg-Osceola at 7:30 p.m.
CLARION-LIMESTONE – 51
Frances Million 3 3-9 11, Kylie Mumford 0 0-0 0, Cara Rungan 0 0-0 0, Kendall Dunn 3 2-4 10, Alyssa Wiant 2 2-3 10, Lexi Coull 4 0-2 2, Alex Leadbetter 3 2-4 18, Grace Shick 1 0-0 0, Kay Sebastian-Sims 1 0-0 0, TOTALS – 18 9-22 51
CLEARFIELD – 45
Taylor Hudson 1 0-0 0, Hannah Glunt 3 1-2 3, Cayleigh Walker 3 0-4 12, Riley Ryen, 2 2-4 11, Emma Hipps 4 16-11 11, Mckenna Lanager 0 0-0 0, Lauryn Kitchen 4 0-0 6, Alaina Fedder 1 0-0 2, TOTALS – 18 9-21 45
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
CLARION-LIMESTONE 18 10 9 14 51
CLEARFIELD 9 12 9 15 45
THREE-POINTERS: CLARION-LIMESTONE – 0 CLEARFIELD – 6 Ryen 3, Kitchen 2, Hipps 1