BELLEFONTE – The Clearfield Lady Bison (4-5) went on the road to Bellefonte (1-9) Friday evening and secured a hard-fought victory over the Lady Raiders, 49-35.
A strong start to the game in the first quarter set the tempo as the Lady Bison quarter by quarter built upon an early lead.
“We wanted to get out to an early lead, and build upon it for all four quarters” said Lady Bison Head Coach Missy Helsel. “I think the girls did a great job at that despite having just 10 players tonight total for the JV and varsity game.”
Clearfield held an 11-5 lead after the first quarter as Emma Hipps had the hot-hand to begin the game with six of her game-high 20 coming in the opening period. The second quarter saw Lauryn Kitchen step up as five of her seven points for the game were scored in the second to help Clearfield extend the lead to a 21-13 advantage going into the break.
First half foul trouble for the home team would carry over into the second half as Clearfield shot 11 free throws in the first half, with the total number of free throws at the end being 34 attempts from the charity stripe.
“When we got Bellefonte in foul trouble early, we knew foul shots were going to be a key factor. We took some time and talked about that in some of our timeouts, and our girls knew we wanted them to attack, get themselves to the foul line, and continue to build upon that lead. I think they all did a pretty great job at that and were mindful of it.”
Cayleigh Walker was consistent throughout for the Lady Bison as she started and ended the game strong with five points in the opening quarter and six in the game’s final period to help her score in double-figures with 15 for the game. The job by Hipps and Walker in the post played a big role in the Lady Bison’s win over the Lady Raiders.
“They (Hipps and Walker) are starting to feed off each other,” Helsel said. “They’ve been working hard in practice on a two-man game, and they are starting to understand each other a little better with how the other person moves on the basketball court. I also credit our guards for doing a nice job to get the ball inside to them.”
Even if shots are not falling, defense must travel, something Clearfield did well tonight as they held their opponents to just 35 points for the game.
“We have been focusing on our defense all season long. We knew what kind of points Bellefonte had been putting up, so we had a goal in mind of how many we wanted them to score in this game. Our kids did a pretty good job at that. We pressed when we could, but we couldn’t do a lot because of the limited number of girls traveling.”
With not having their regular starting lineup in place tonight, the job of Hannah Glunt, Alayna Winters, and Lauryn Kitchen to fill in as primary guards and ball-handlers was something that pleased their head coach.
“They all did a great job stepping up to handle the basketball tonight,” Helsel said. “They set up the offense well and were able to handle the press when Bellefonte gave us some pressure. It was a good all around game for our girls tonight.”
Aside from 35 combined points from Hipps and Walker, the Lady Bison got seven points from Kitchen, five from Glunt, and two from Winters in the victory.
Bellefonte was led in the scoring column with an 11 point performance from Maria Cotter. Her teammates Mackenzie Ellenberger and Keira Whitman also chipped in with seven points each.
The Lady Bison will hope to be back to full strength for a three-game week, including their next matchup in which they are back on the road to square off against Huntingdon on Tuesday. The junior-varsity game is set for 6:00 p.m. with the varsity contest slated for a 7:30 p.m. tip.
BELLEFONTE – 35
Emma Rossman 1 0-0 2, Mackenzie Ellenberger 1 2-4 7, Angelina Aviles 0 0-0 0, Sydney Hamilton 1 0-0 2, Hana Rados 2 0-1 4, Keira Whitman 3 1-1 7, Madison Ripka 0 0-0 0, Maria Cotter 3 5-7 11, Jaylee Lose 1 0-0 2, TOTALS 12 8-13 35.
CLEARFIELD – 49
Taylor Hudson 0 0-0 0, Kinley Reed 1 0-0 0 Hannah Glunt 0 5-8 5, Alayna Winters 0 2-2 2 Cayleigh Walker 6 3-5 15, Emma Hipps 6 8-15 20, Mckenna Lanager 0 0-0 0, Lauryn Kitchen 2 3-4 7, TOTALS 14 21-34 49.
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
BELLEFONTE 5 8 11 11 35
CLEARFIELD 11 10 12 16 49
THREE-POINTERS: BELLEFONTE – 1 Ellenberger 1 CLEARFIELD – None