CURWENSVILLE — For over two months, the basketball season has been a grind and has been one of success, struggle, happiness and heartache. A 22-game season has every emotion fathomable, and at the end of the year all that the final record states is wins and losses. It doesn’t show the successes on the court, even if the game ends not as a team wants. Wednesday night, both the Clearfield Lady Bison and the Curwensville Lady Tide would finish off their regular seasons. Clearfield was looking to conclude their season with momentum as playoffs loomed. Curwensville wanted to finish the year on a victorious note with a young squad that was still learning.
Patton Hall would see both squads perform well on multiple occasions. But, the speed and tempo that the Lady Bison consistently showed all season would lead them to one more regular season win, taking a 73-27 victory and a lot of positives into the second season.
Clearfield head coach Missy Helsel was pleased with her team’s progression in the game on both sides of the ball, stating, “We have to get better defensively every game, and be more consistent. There’s areas there that we worked on and got better at tonight. The more they do that, the better prepared we will be for next week. Offensively, we’ve given them options to work through on their own, and I think they are starting to feel more comfortable. That’s important to me.”
The Lady Bison were defensively working hard in the opening quarter, as they forced six turnovers that halted a lot of possessions for Curwensville. Not all led to points, but it kept the Lady Tide from getting baskets and having to drive back down the court. However, Sonny Diehl would make sure the Lady Bison would stay out front, as in a matter of 30 seconds, she captured a pair of steals, while teammate Alayna Winters got a third, and all led to six of Diehl’s 18 points on the night.
“Clearfield always looks to push the ball down the court. In the first half, I felt we played really well. We came out with some energy, played relaxed, and certainly I’m proud of how my girls played in the first half,” Lady Tide head coach Dawna Wheeler said afterwards. “We sort of anticipated how this game would go, and without question Clearfield definitely has a good team.”
That pace that the Lady Bison were running for the entire game. Helsel has said constantly that when her team is able to run the floor, their offense has potential to put up numbers.
The second quarter proved that as the Curwensville offense sputtered, and Clearfield took advantage. Mia Helsel would go off in a big way, hitting five of eight shots in the stanza, part of her game-high 24 point effort. Part of that came from teammates being able to feed her the ball, and also crash the boards when the shot doesn’t go in. Hannah Glunt would pick up 10 rebounds, four steals, and seven assists, while Cayleigh Walker pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds, almost finishing with a double-double as she was one point short of that on the stat line.
Clearfield went into halftime with a 40-17 lead, but on the opposite side of the court the Lady Tide were not having a bad first half in the eyes of Wheeler. In her eyes, not just tonight, but the last several games she has seen a lot of improvement from many players. The last few games, Briah Peoples has emerged as a tough player to guard and box out. She finished the night with a double-double performance with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
“She’s played tremendous. I think she’s figured out what she wants, and has taken that on. Absolutely am so pleased with how she’s come along,” Wheeler said.
Clearfield would eventually hit the running clock during the third quarter, as the tempo would not slow down and the Lady Tide were trying to keep up. That would lead to more turnovers and fewer possessions. In all, the Lady Tide would have 23 turnovers compared to the Lady Bison’s 11. After three quarters, Clearfield’s 62-21 lead allowed the coaches to let many of the younger players get some court time as there was no junior varsity game at the start of the night.
Curwensville’s season finished with a 1-21 record, but almost immediately looked forward to the offseason, because Wheeler was already feeling as though the group she had would all return for the next year.
“We definitely feel as a group there’s a bright future,” Wheeler said. “I just told the girls in the locker room I was hoping to see them all back next year, and hopefully see them again over the summer. I think if we have a big summer, we will be able to put together a pretty decent season come next year.
On the opposite end, Clearfield finished the regular season with a 14-8 record, the first time in many years the team would be above .500 when the final game ended. Helsel said that was a goal the girls set at the beginning of the year that they wanted to accomplish. The team finished the year winning two of the last three, but even then they knew that more was still on the horizon.
“They all know they have more work to do as a team to have a strong showing in the next game, no matter the opponent,” Helsel said. “We have a few scrimmages lined up to keep us game ready.”
Clearfield is slated to face either the Lady Chucks of Punxsutawney or the Lady Dutch from St. Marys. The final decision will not come until early next week. However, the game is set to be played on Thursday night, February 22, at the DuBois Area High School. More details about game time and opponent will be revealed in the next week.
SCORE BY QUARTER
Clearfield 18 22 22 11 – 73
Curwensville 10 7 4 6 – 27
Clearfield – 73
Sonny Diehl 8 2-4 18, Esme Coffman 0 0-0 0, Carsyn Walker 0 0-0 0, Hannah Glunt 3 0-0 7, Alayna Winters 3 0-0 7, Cayleigh Walker 4 1-2 9, Mia Helsel 10 0-0 24, Myleigh Hudson 3 0-0 6, Kaylie Brown 0 0-2 0, Elia Evilsizor 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 32 3-8 73.
Curwensville – 27
Addison Butler 1 0-0 2, Brooklynn Price 3 1-2 7, Maddie Sheredy 1 0-0 3, Natalie Wischuck 1 0-0 3, Jovee Elensky 0 0-0 0, Ava Hainsey 0 0-2 0, Addison Warren 0 0-0 0, Jayda Gaul 0 0-0 0, Briah Peoples 4 3-4 12, Janelle Passmore 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 10 4-8 27.
GAME STATISTICS
Clearfield/Curwensville
- Shooting: 32-72/10-51
- Rebounds: 38/22
- Fouls: 11/6
- Turnovers: 11/23
- Three-Point Shots: Glunt, Winters, Helsel-4/Sheredy, Wischuck, Peoples
Final Lady Tide Scoreboard:
Date Opponent Score Record
12/06 HARMONY 53 – 58 0 – 1
12/12 @ Williamsburg 19 – 85 0 – 2
12/15 @ Juniata Valley 44 – 66 0 – 3
12/18 @ Brockway 32 – 60 0 – 4
12/19 @ Claysburg-Kimmel 38 – 45 0 – 5
12/22 @ Glendale 15 – 65 0 – 6
12/29 & 30 @ Philipsburg-Osceola Tourney
12/29 vs. Philipsburg-Osceola 32 – 56 0 – 7
12/30 vs. Mo Valley 18 – 60 0 – 8
01/05 BROCKWAY 28 – 53 0 – 9
01/09 @ West Branch ppd. 0 – 9
01/12 MO VALLEY 26 – 46 0 – 10
01/15 WILLIAMSBURG 15 – 66 0 – 11
01/18 MT. UNION 20 – 62 0 – 12
01/22 JUNIATA VALLEY 13 – 56 0 – 13
01/23 @ Clarion 8 – 61 0 – 14
01/25 GLENDALE 14 – 47 0 – 15
01/29 BUCKTAIL 36 – 55 0 – 16
02/01 WEST BRANCH 18 – 49 0 – 17
02/05 @ Mo Valley 35 – 44 0 – 18
02/07 PURCHASE LINE 12 – 74 0 – 19
02/09 @ Harmony 55 – 54 1 – 19
02/13 @ West Branch 22 – 47 1 – 20
02/14 CLEARFIELD 27 – 73 1 – 21