WINGATE – The Lady Bison used clutch fourth quarter free throw shooting, solid defensive rebounding, and balanced scoring to earn a hard-fought road victory over Bald Eagle Area, 53-50 Tuesday evening.
Clearfield (2-4) trailed by eight with under five minutes to play, but the Lady Bison went on a 13-0 run to take a 50-45 lead with 30 seconds to play. After two free throws from freshman Hannah Glunt, the Bald Eagles (1-2) answered with a trey ball from the left-wing by Abby Hoover to make it a two-point Lady Bison advantage with 23 seconds remaining.
The Bald Eagles wisely fouled on the ensuing Lady Bison possession which would send Riley Ryen to the line for a pair of foul shots. Ryen connected on the first to extend the lead to three, but she missed the back-half of the free throws. After a Clearfield offensive rebound, the Lady Bison were immediately called for a travel which turned the ball back over to the Bald Eagles, trailing by three.
Hoover then found Katie Snyder to trim the lead to one with eight seconds remaining. At 51-50, Ryen nailed two more free throws with four seconds left to put the lead back up to three for Clearfield. A desperation heave fell short as Clearfield rallied to come out with a narrow three point win.
“From the first game we played this season, these girls have not given up,” said Lady Bison Head Coach Missy Helsel. “It is really one of their strong suits. Getting a win on the road like this is super important for us because I think we are going to be in so many more games like this over the course of the season. Being able to get a victory tonight and come out on top really says a lot about their character, their will, and their heart for basketball.”
Balanced scoring was a key factor in this one as each of the five starters for the Lady Bison did their part in the scoring column. Riley Ryen led the Clearfield offense with 17 points, including the game sealing free throws with four seconds remaining. She had the hot hand as she connected on four from behind-the-arc for the game. Also in double-figures was sophomore Cayleigh Walker with 14 and freshman Hannah Glunt with 10.
Emma Hipps almost notched double-figures in this one as she added nine for the game, and Alayna Winters added three more points to round out the scoring for Clearfield. Coach Helsel talked about the impact Hannah Glunt made both in the junior-varsity game and then in the varsity game for Clearfield in addition to what the defensive effort from Alayna Winters meant in securing the win.
“Hannah Glunt had a big night for us. She did well in the JV game and then stepped up and went right into the varsity game and had a big night there too. Alayna Winters also stepped up and I know she only had three points in the score book, but she did a heck of a job on number 11 (Madison Perry) from keeping her out of the game the best we could. Alayna (Winters) did a great job getting Perry into foul trouble which took her out of the ball game in spurts, too.”
For the home team, Abby Hoover led the Bald Eagle offense from the point-guard position as she scored a game-high 21 points with two three pointers to her credit. The Bald Eagles also had a double-digit performance from senior guard Madison Perry who added 10 in the contest.
Despite only playing six girls, the Lady Bison proved they were capable of hitting the road and finding a way to win despite it being around the holiday season.
“Our team is starting to realize that we can have that balanced scoring. If teams are going to key on Emma (Hipps) or if she is having an off night, they’re realizing now that they can put the ball in the basket, and we need them to. They have to do that to get wins like this.”
In junior-varsity action, Clearfield was able to come away with a hard fought victory of their own as they defeated Bald Eagle Area 37-31.
The Lady Bison will next meet a backyard rival as they hit the road once again for a clash with the Lady Tide on Wednesday, December 29. The varsity game is scheduled to tip-off at 7:15 p.m., and will be the last game of 2021 for the Lady Bison.
BALD EAGLE– 50
Madison Perry 4 4-5 10, Charlotte Cingle 1 0-2 4, Abby Hoover 2 3-3 21, Katie Snyder 4 0-0 2, Kiana Serb 4 1-2 5 Taylor Habovick 1 0-0 0, Sydney Thompson 0 0-0 0, Rachel Bryan 1 0-0 4, Khloe Cunningham 1 0-1 4, TOTALS – 19 8-13 50
CLEARFIELD – 53
Hannah Glunt 0 5-6 10, Kinley Reed 0 0-0 0, Alayna Winters 3 1-6 3, Cayleigh Walker 3 4-7 14, Riley Ryen 3 3-5 17, Emma Hipps 4 1-2 9 TOTALS – 13 15-26 53
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
BALD EAGLE 15 11 15 9 50
CLEARFIELD 13 14 10 16 53
THREE-POINTERS: BALD EAGLE – 2 Hoover 2 CLEARFIELD – 4 Ryan 4