HYDE – The Lady Bison (5-6) used a strong defensive effort to get back on track Thursday night as they defeated the Lady Beavers of DuBois (6-5) by a final score of 39-25 on their home court.
After a disappointing outing against Huntingdon Tuesday night, Clearfield came out determined of coming away with a victory as they held DuBois to just two first quarter points to take a 6-2 advantage early in the game.
“That Huntingdon performance was probably our poorest all year,” said Lady Bison Head Coach Missy Helsel. “We knew our defense was not where it needed to be. We made several corrections to that and our girls really showed up to play. They played outstanding defense in all four quarters of the game.”
“Alayna Winters, I would hate to have to play basketball against her. She’s one of the best defenders around. We also talk a lot about keeping our arms up and out, and I think Cayleigh Walker and Emma Hipps did a great job at that. We also had Riley (Ryen) Hannah (Glunt) and Lauryn (Kitchen) putting a lot of pressure on their offense. They really played their heart out tonight.”
Clearfield was able to keep the four-point advantage going into halftime as there was not much offense to go around once again in the second. Each team scored just seven points, but Riley Ryen found her shot from deep in the second quarter as she sunk one of her three trey balls in the second quarter to help Clearfield hang onto a 13-9 advantage.
The third-quarter saw Clearfield expand their lead to a double-digit one as Ryen sunk two three pointers in the quarter for the Lady Bison. Ryen led all scorers in the contest with 13 points. After outscoring DuBois 11-5 in the third, they went into the final period up 24-14.
The fourth quarter saw the most offensive production of any quarter in the ball game as the teams would combined for 26 points, including four from Walker who joined Ryen in double-figures for the game with 12 tallies of her own. In the end, the defense was too much for DuBois as Clearfield came out with the 14-point win, 39-25.
For senior Emma Hipps, she narrowly missed out on another double-digit game as she posted nine points for the Lady Bison. Rounding out the scoring for the home team was Hannah Glunt with three points and Lauryn Kitchen with two.
DuBois played 14 players in the varsity contest, with Isabella Geist-Salone leading the way with nine points for the Lady Beavers. Teammate Alexis Pfeufer followed up Geist-Salone in the scoring column with six points. Kamryn Fontain was able to add four tallies for the visitors in this one, while the trio of Madison Rusina, Teegan Runyon, and Bree Weible each recorded a two-point bucket.
DuBois will be back in action Saturday, January 15 as they hit the road to face the defending District 10 champion Warren Lady Dragons at 2:30 p.m. As for Clearfield, their turnaround will be even quicker as their third game of the week will be against Penns Valley Friday in another home contest. The junior-varsity game will tip at 6:00 p.m. with the varsity game set for 7:30 p.m.
DUBOIS – 25
Madison Rusnica 1 0-0 2, Isabella Geist-Salone 4 1-2 9, Sarah Henninger 0 0-0 0, Alexis Pfeufer 0 6-7 6, Allie Snyder 1 0-4 2, Abby Geist-Salone 0 0-0 0, Brooke Chewning 0 0-0 0, Kamryn Fontaine 2 0-0 4, Teegan Runyon 0 0-0 0, Gabby Orzechowski 0 0-0 0, Maddy Orzechowski 0 0-0 0, Lynx Lander 0 0-0 0, Abbie McCoy 0 0-0 0, Bree Weible 1 0-0 2, TOTALS 9 7-13 25.
CLEARFIELD – 39
Hannah Glunt 0 3-6 3, Alayna Winters 0 0-0 0 Cayleigh Walker 4 4-5 12, Riley Ryen, 3 2-4 13, Emma Hipps 4 1-3 9, Lauryn Kitchen 1 0-0 2, TOTALS 12 10-18 39.
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
DUBOIS 2 7 5 11 25
CLEARFIELD 6 7 11 15 39
THREE-POINTERS: DUBOIS – None CLEARFIELD – 3 Ryen 3