SPRING MILLS – The Lady Rams of Penns Valley (8-11) picked up a season sweep over the Clearfield Lady Bison (7-11) in girls hoops Monday night as Penns Valley defeated their Mountain League foe by a final score of 63-44.
After defeating the Lady Bison in the prior contest of the 2021-22 campaign between the two programs 45-37 in overtime back on January 14, Penns Valley came ready to defend their home floor on Monday night as a tough start by the Lady Bison was not something the visiting team could overcome.
“We missed a lot of easy layups early on, at least a dozen of them,” said Clearfield Lady Bison Head Basketball Coach Missy Helsel. “We didn’t play our best basketball tonight.”
Finding themselves trailing 15-8 after the opening quarter, Clearfield rallied in the second period to inch closer at 29-24 heading into the halftime break.
“We started to press a little bit in the second, they made some turnovers, and we turned some of those into points. We battled back and chipped away to get it within five going into halftime.”
After the break, Clearfield struggled to rebound, allowing for easy second chance baskets in the second-half for the home team. These long defensive possessions that resulted in second-chance buckets is something Coach Helsel noted as deflating to her team’s morale in the second-half.
“The rebounding wasn’t there the way it should have been and they had too many second shots on some of their attempts. As they started to pull away, the pressure of our defense let up some. You can’t do that to a good team like Penns Valley.”
A 17-7 run in the third quarter helped the Lady Rams extend their lead to double-figures as they held onto a 46-31 lead heading into the final quarter of play. Adding 17 more points in the fourth put the game out of reach as Penns Valley would cruise to a 63-44 win over the Lady Bison.
Leading the Penns Valley offense Monday evening was Kailen Winkelblech who scored a game-high 24 points in the win. She was joined in double-figures by Ann-Marie McCurtie who scored 13 points for the Lady Rams. Narrowly missing out on double-figures was Katie Romig who scored nine.
Julia Emel added five points in the win, with teammate Kayla Hopkins scoring four. Rounding out the scoring were four players who netted two points each in Sammie Snider, Scotty Dinges, Skylar Fleshman, and Paige Dobson.
The Lady Bison offense featured two double-digit scorers as Emma Hipps netted 15 and Riley Ryen added 10 on 7-8 from the free-throw line. Cayleigh Walker followed up Ryen with eight points for the game. Rounding out the scoring for the visitors was Hannah Glunt with five, Lauryn Kitchen with four, and Alayna Winters with two points.
The Lady Bison are back in action on Wednesday as they host Bald Eagle Area for senior night in which Lauryn Kitchen and Emma Hipps will be recognized.
Back on December 21, the Lady Bison picked up a narrow 53-50 win over the Mountain League foe as they aim to make it a season sweep. Wednesday’s action will feature a junior-varsity game at 6:00 p.m. with the varsity contest slated to tip at 7:30 p.m.
PENNS VALLEY – 63
Ann-Marie McMurtrie 4 2-2 13, Sammie Snider 1 0-0 2, Scotty Dinges 1 0-0 2, Katie Ronig 3 3-4 9, Kailen Winkelblech 9 3-7 24, Julie Emel 1 0-0 5, Kayla Hopkins 1 2-3 4, Audrey Kerstetter 0 0-0 0, Paige Dobson 1 0-0 2, Skylar Fleshman 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 21 10-16 63.
CLEARFIELD – 44
Emma Hipps 6 3-4 15, Lauryn Kitchen 2 0-2 4, Riley Ryen 0 7-8 10, Cayleigh Walker 4 0-5 8, Alayna Winters 1 0-0 2, Hannah Glunt 1 0-2 5. TOTALS 14 10-21 44.
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
PENNS VALLEY 15 14 17 17 63.
CLEARFIELD 8 16 7 13 44.
THREE-POINTERS: PENNS VALLEY – 3 Memurtrie 1, Winkelblech 1, Emel 1. CLEARFIELD – 2 Glunt 1, Ryen 1.