ST. MARYS – The St. Marys Lady Dutch (9-4) came away with a double-digit victory over the visiting Clearfield Lady Bison (5-9) on Friday night as St. Marys overcame a first quarter deficit to win by a final score of 48-36.
Clearfield came out of the gate strong with 18 points in the opening quarter, including 10 first quarter points from Emma Hipps who would finish with 13 for the game. The Lady Bison held St. Marys to 14 in the opening period as they clung to a four-point lead going into the second quarter.
However, shooting woes would hurt the Lady Bison in the next two quarters as Clearfield was not able to score a point in the second quarter and managed just five in the third. Despite not scoring a point in the second quarter, the Lady Bison only trailed by six going into halftime at 24-18.
The slow start to the third quarter helped St. Marys extend their lead to double-figures as by the end of the third, the Lady Dutch had extended their lead to 15 points, 38-23. When talking about the tough stretch offensively, Clearfield Head Coach Missy Helsel said this.
“We put up a lot of shots, but they just didn’t fall,” said Helsel about the cold spell shooting the ball. “We had layups, open jump shots, and three pointers, but we just couldn’t get anything to fall and that was a big turning point in the game.”
“Somebody at that point has to take over for us. I think we are still at a point where we are trying to figure out how to do that as a team and individually. When we need a basket, someone has to be able to make that move and make it happen for us.”
The third quarter would feature the Lady Bison going about three quarters of the period without a field goal, but once they saw one go in, the Lady Bison ended the game with a little bit of momentum. However, not being able get on the scoreboard for an extended period of time in the middle of the game would prove to be too much to overcome despite the Lady Bison outscoring the Lady Dutch 13-10 to end the game.
The Lady Dutch were able to come away with the 12-point victory and got a key victory over a fellow District 9 team that they may meet again come the postseason.
“Emma Hipps had a nice game for us, Lauryn (Kitchen) played some great defense, and Alayna Winters played some great minutes in the ball game,” said Helsel of this trio who all played big minutes in Friday’s game. “We’re happy with the way our defense looked tonight. We hope to see them (St. Marys) again in the district playoffs.”
Despite the loss for Clearfield, the team can be proud of not giving up despite being down guard Riley Ryen for this one and losing key post player Cayleigh Walker in the second-half to injury. Despite two starters being out, the Lady Bison fought hard and had a few players came through with the opportunities they were presented with.
With Walker and Ryen out, Hannah Glunt took over in the scoring column for Clearfield as she led the team with 14 points, including four three pointers.
“She’s always looking at the basket when she catches the ball,” Helsel said. “If her shot’s there, she has the go-ahead, the green light to fire away. She knows if they are up on her on defense, she has to attack the basket. She has a nice all around game and is nice to have on the basketball court.”
Not shown in the scoring column is McKenna Lanager who did her part on the defensive end, something Coach Helsel was also proud of for Clearfield in the defeat.
“McKenna (Lanager) came in and she played some really good minutes for us. She gave us some great defense, some rebounds, and she did the things she needed to do when she got in the ball game. We were happy to see her do well on the floor tonight.”
Glunt and Hipps led the led for the Lady Bison as they combined for 27 of their team’s 36 points for the game. Joining the duo in the scoring column was Lauryn Kitchen with five and Walker and Alayna Winters who each added a two-point basket.
For the Lady Dutch, Izzy Catalone and Jayssa Snelick each chipped in 11 points to lead the balanced scoring attack for St. Marys. Sisters Maura and Isabelle Caskey each added seven points for the Lady Dutch for the game, with Abigail Erich and Holly Anthony rounding out the scoring for the home team as they both added six tallies.
The Lady Bison will look to use the weekend to rest up in hopes of snapping the recent skid on Monday as they host Bald Eagle Area for junior-varsity and varsity contests. It will mark the second matchup of the season for the programs, with Clearfield picking up a come-from-behind 53-50 victory back on December 21, 2021.
Monday’s action will begin at 6:00 p.m. with the junior-varsity game, followed by the varsity contest scheduled to tip at 7:30 p.m. from the Clearfield Junior-Senior High School Bison gymnasium.
ST. MARYS – 48
Abigail Erich 3 0-0 6, Holly Anthony 3 0-0 6, Izzy Catalone 3 2-2 11, Jayssa Snelick 2 1-2 11, Olivia Eckels 0 0-0 0, Maura Caskey 2 3-4 7, Isabelle Caskey 1 5-6 7, Alexa Schneider 0 0-0 0, TOTALS 14 11-14 48.
CLEARFIELD – 36
Emma Hipps 2 6-7 13, McKenna Lanager 0 0-0 0, Cayleigh Walker 0 2-2 2, Alayna Winters 1 0-0 2, Hannah Glunt 1 0-0 14, Lauryn Kitchen 1 0-0 5, TOTALS 5 8-9 36.
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
ST. MARYS 14 10 14 10 48
CLEARFIELD 18 0 5 13 36
THREE-POINTERS: ST. MARYS – 3 Snelick 2, Catalone 1. CLEARFIELD – 6 Glunt 4, Hipps 1, Kitchen 1.
