HYDE — A gymnasium clad in black, red and white had a bit more of a pop of color on Thursday night. Inside the Bison Gymnasium, the home finale for the Clearfield Lady Bison got a major pop of pink, as the crowd came out for the annual Pink Out night, which also served as a rematch between the Lady Bison and the visiting Lady Marauders from Bishop Guilfoyle. It was back in December when the first meeting between these two teams went the way of Bishop Guilfoyle.
This night, the difference was baskets going in, and possessing the ball. The Lady Bison struggled with both, losing the turnover battle, missing shots, resulting in a 66-47 loss.
“They are a good ball club, and we knew coming in that Guilfoyle would be tough. We are excited to play them, and it gives us great competition,” Clearfield head coach Missy Helsel said afterwards. “It gives us something to work towards. Obviously, it wasn’t our best defensive effort, and offensively we weren’t finding who we needed to. It comes, once again, with our defensive pressure.
“If we’re in the game defensively, that does create offense, but tonight it didn’t pan out.”
Early on, the two squads would go bucket for bucket, with no real advantage coming to either. Neither team had a strong showing from the floor, shooting a combined 7-for-33 in eight minutes. That did not mean the game was not exciting and intense, as after one quarter of play the Lady Marauders and Lady Bison ended in an 11-11 tie.
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Things started to fall the way of the visitors in the second quarter, as Bishop Guifoyle’s Maurie Querry and Gia Adams began getting looks, and causing miscues. Clearfield began having ball-handling trouble in the second quarter, as a trio of steals from the visitors led to a fast seven points to put BG out front, a lead they would not give up for the remainder of the game. The low shooting percentage in the first quarter improved in the second as Bishop Guilfoyle went 6-for-12 from the floor, with Querry not missing any buckets, plus going perfect at the foul line. Heading into the break, the 27-19 deficit for Clearfield was not out of reach, but was not going to be easy to overcome.
The third quarter is when the Marauders put the game for certain out of reach for Clearfield, running off a 22-point effort as six players put up scoring in the stanza. Querry, Adams, and Alana Lightner put up 16 of those points, pushing the lead to 49-34 heading into the final quarter. Querry and Lightner each led the their squad with 15 points, with Morgan Ruggery adding in 14 and Adams accounting for another 12.
Clearfield was not without a strong effort from their “Iron Five”, as Hannah Glunt would lead the squad with 15 points, 12 of them coming in the second half. Sonny Diehl would have a 12-point effort, and Mia Helsel added in 11. However, the inability to overcome turnovers and an 18-for-56 effort shooting made it a challenge for the outcome.
Coach Helsel, despite seeing the loss on the scoreboard, was pleased with her team and the effort put forth. At the same time, the part that caught her eye the most was the crowd response to the team’s theme. A packed Bison Gym, with the elementary teams and even the Bison cagers on the sideline rooting them on, caught her eye the moment teams came out for warm ups.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen this many people at a girls’ basketball game. This was great to see so much support for the Pink Out tonight,” she said.
Sitting at 12-8, Clearfield is guaranteed to still have a winning season, and are already heading into District IX playoffs with momentum. Helsel mentioned that she already had an idea of who they would likely play in the opening playoff game, but also wanted to keep focus on the near future.
“We know we’re going to play either Punxy or St Marys up at DuBois in a couple weeks,” she said. “But, we’re not looking that far ahead. We have two games next week where we should do well at, and help fine tune our offense and defense.”
The two remaining games of the regular season will take place on the road, beginning on Monday when the Lady Bison travel to Tyrone for their final Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference game of the year. The two squads faced off once before, with Clearfield getting the better of the Lady Golden Eagles on December 20, 61-43. Tip-off in Tyrone for varsity is set for approximately 7:30 p.m. The last regular season game will be at Curwensville next Wednesday.
SCORE BY QUARTER
Bishop Guilfoyle 11 16 22 17 – 66
Clearfield 11 8 15 13 – 47
Bishop Guilfoyle – 66
Maurie Querry 7 0-0 15, Morgan Ruggery 5 3-3 14, Anberlyn Petrecca 2 0-0 4, Stella Yeskey 2 0-0 4, Alana Lightner 6 3-4 15, Gia Adams 5 0-0 12, Riley Gofus 0 2-2 2, Delaney Lechner 0 0-0 0, Hannah Homan 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 27 8-9 66.
Clearfield – 47
Sonny Diehl 4 4-6 12, Hannah Glunt 6 0-0 15, Alayna Winters 1 0-0 2, Cayleigh Walker 3 1-2 7, Mia Helsel 4 1-2 11, Caitlyn Albertson 0 0-0 0, Elia Evilsizor 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 18 6-10 47.
GAME STATISTICS
Bishop Guilfoyle/Clearfield
- Shooting: 27-53/18-56
- Rebounds: 27/22
- Fouls: 13/12
- Turnovers: 11/15
- Three-Point Shots: Querry, Ruggery, Adams-2/Glunt-3, Helsel-2