HYDE – The Clearfield Area High School girls basketball team got back on the winning track after two losses by outscoring Brookville 23-9 in the fourth quarter to grab a 63-55 non-league win on the Weiss Gym hardwood Monday night.
Coach Joey Castagnolo had challenged the Lady Bisons to go out and record a quality win, and they responded with what he considered their best outing of the season against a team that was rolling along at 8-2.
He said, “I told the kids, ‘Let’s make it a point tonight to beat somebody this good.”
The Lady Bisons accomplished that goal for a 5-3 record by showcasing a balanced offense, four starters hitting double figures, and not falling to pieces when the Lady Raiders seemed poised to turn what had been a closely-contested scrap into a runaway late in the third quarter.
Clearfield was playing catch-up most of the time, falling behind by seven points in each of the first two periods.
But the Lady Bisons didn’t buckle then and most especially after Brookville went up 41-31 on Aisha Newsome’s layup, three-pointer and steal for an easy two in a span of 50 seconds in the third quarter.
Two free throws by reserve Kate Sheeder and a three-pointer by Rachel Thompson on the right wing triggered a comeback that resulted in a 32-14 finish over the final 9:14.
“I’m just so proud of them not to panic when we were down 10,” he said. “They just passed the ball around and looked for the open shot. And, then, Rachel got hot, which really helped.”
Did she ever.
The 5-7 junior buried another trey to get the fans into it at the start of the fourth quarter and drove for two layups a minute later as the Lady Bisons became more active on defense and quickly pulled to within one point, 48-47.
“When we got the ball, we took our time passing it around, and that just slowed everything down,” Castagnolo said. “Then, on defense, we did pick it up. I actually think we wore them down. And they got out of their game plan. They were dumping it into (Emily Ferraro) all the time and then got away from it, I think, because of our constant pressure.”
Clearfield’s defense caused half of Brookville’s 20 turnovers in the final period and helped increase the tempo.
The Lady Raiders couldn’t keep up, and the Lady Bisons went on an 11-0 run in just under two minutes for a 58-51 lead with 2:51 remaining.
Dakota Farmery swished two foul shots before Thompson’s third trey made it 52-51. Farmery then flipped in a pair of putbacks around two free throws by Lisa Ambuski.
The Lady Raiders were unable to regain their shooting touch and also had some ballhandling troubles in the waning minutes, which allowed the Lady Bisons to keep them at bay with five free throws in the last 49 seconds.
“I think they were getting tired, and we weren’t,” Castagnolo said. “We were fresh. And we hit some critical foul shots down the stretch. The fourth quarter was ours.”
Thompson paced the Lady Bisons with 17 points, including a dozen in the fourth quarter.
“She played with a lot of confidence,’’ Castagnolo said. “And Lisa played unbelievable defense on those twin girls (Aisha and Lanae Newsome).”
Ambuski, the point guard, turned in an excellent all-around game, pumping in 15 points in addition to directing the offense and harassing the Lady Raider guards.
Her pair of three-pointers from the top of the key, one a bank shot, prevented Brookville from building an even bigger lead the first seven minutes of the second half.
The Lady Bisons also got good production in the low post.
Farmery registered her usual double-double, 12 points and a game-high 16 rebounds, and Breanna Peters contributed 11 points and six boards, more than off-setting a 14-point, 10-rebound performance by the hard-working Ferraro.
Pacing Brookville’s three-pronged attack was Karly Reinsel, who netted 17 points in her return after sitting out five games because of a shoulder injury.
Aisha Newsome also tallied 14 points.
Clearfield was 21-for-52 for a very good 40.4 percent. Brookville made 24 of 64 short for 37.5 percent.
Rebounds favored the Lady Raiders, 28-25.
Turnover totals spiked in the fourth quarter, Clearfield matching Brookville’s 10 to finish with 24.
The Lady Bisons return to Weiss Gym Tuesday night for an Mountain League Allegheny Division game against Philipsburg-Osceola.
They will travel to DuBois Thursday and then head in the opposite direction Saturday to meet Penns Valley in a 6 p.m. MAC division game that originally was scheduled for Friday.
Maggie Sopic’s 20-point effort sparked the Clearfield junior varsity’s third win, 28-22, in the prelim.
See photos of the game here: http://www.ladybisonsports.org/lbsbball010912.html
BROOKVILLE — 55
Emily Ferraro 7 0-0 14, Samantha Byerly 2 0-0 3, Aisha Newsome 5 2-2 14, Lanae Newsome 1 2-2 4, Karly Reinsel 8 1-4 17, Madison Hill 0 0-0 0, Amana Ray 0 1-2 1, Katie Zents 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 23 6-10 55
CLEARFIELD — 63
Lisa Ambuski 3 7-10 15, Rachel Thompson 6 2-2 17, Kristen Butler 2 0-3 4, Breanna Peters 4 3-3 11, Dakota Farmery 5 2-3 12, Kate Sheeder 1 2-3 4, Brittany Renaud 0 0-0 0, Janelle Mumma 0 0-0 0, Maggie Sopic 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 21 16-24 63.
Three-Point Field Goals – Brookville 3 (Byerly, A. Newsome 2); Clearfield 5 (Ambuski 2, Thompson 3).
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Brookville 15 15 18 9 – 55
Clearfield 15 10 15 23 – 63
