January 6th, 2007 Lady Bisons Overpower Bradford 53-50HYDE -- The Clearfield Lady Bisons showed a great deal of
confidence and a wealth of poise and patience Friday evening to secure
a 53-50 win over District 9 League rival Bradford at Arthur J. Weiss
Gymnasium.
The Lady Bisons, coming off an embarrassing loss to Elk County
Catholic on Wednesday, were able to put their season behind them and
play a well-rounded game on both offense and defense with teamwork
shining through to overtake a Bradford squad that did not quit.
"This win is huge," Clearfield head coach Joey Castagnolo said. "It
might be one of the biggest wins of my career just because of the
simple fact we were humiliated on Wednesday. The girls came to
practice Thursday wanting this game."
Clearfield played the game without forward Brooke Jordan - who is
out with a concussion. However, her teammates more than made up for
her absence as Castagnolo was able to go deep into his bench and get
positive results. Juliana Howell, Alana Luzier and Amber Byerly
supported the winning effort with solid minutes to aid starters Nikki
Collins, Elizabeth Sopic and Annie and Mallory Janocko.
Collins and Luzier led the Lady Bisons' scoring attack with 12
points apiece. Luzier came off the bench to score all of her points.
Howell added 11 points and Sopic added eight hard-fought points in the
paint.
"Amber Byerly played the whole fourth quarter," Castagnolo said. "I
needed some size inside and she responded like a senior. Mallory,
Alana, Juliana - they are all a little sick. That's why I rotated
them, and we were able to make up for the loss of Brooke Jordan."
Whitney Cline led the Bradford attack with 19 points before fouling
out with 20.1 seconds left in the game. Katie White added 12 in a
losing effort for the Lady Owls.
Clearfield struggled early in the first quarter with Bradford's
intensive full-court pressure defense and the Lady Owls took an early
11-5 lead on a White layup and Castagnolo calling a timeout shortly
after with 3:50 remaining in the first quarter.
During the timeout, Castagnolo set up his Lady Bisons to break the
Bradford press. Castagnolo set up three players right behind point
guard Collins ready to race all over the court to take the ball. On
the Lady Bisons' first attempt at breaking the press Clearfield moved
the ball up the court and deep into the Bradford zone where Collins
drove the baseline for an easy layup. The basket cut Clearfield's
deficit to four points, 11-7.
Clearfield stopped Bradford on the ensuing trip down the floor and
came back with a vengeance. Four different Clearfield players touched
the ball in transition ending with Sopic's layup. Another defensive
stop and outstanding ball movement down low in the paint resulted in
Howell's jumper that knotted the score at 11-11 with 2:12 remaining.
"That was huge," Castagnolo said. "I had a different type of way to
break their press. I watched game tapes of other games they played in,
and we saw a weakness there. That's why we went three across. I just
put that in tonight on the chalkboard. I told Nikki (Collins) to stay
in the middle and change her pace. It worked beautifully.
"We refused to die tonight."
Bradford's Nicole Siffrin hit a jumper, but Clearfield finished out
the quarter with a pair of foul shots from Howell to keep the score
tied at 13-13.
The teams traded buckets throughout the second quarter and went
into intermission tied 26-all. Clearfield's ability to recognize it
could indeed break Bradford's pressure defense spoke volumes in the
confidence displayed in the second half by a determined Lady Bisons
squad.
As the teams ran the floor in the third quarter, it appeared the
Lady Bisons wouldn't have enough in the tank to run with the Lady
Owls. However, all that changed early in the fourth quarter.
Bradford continually pushed the ball inside in the first half and
didn't stray from its gameplan in the second half. Cline scored 10 of
her 19 points in that second quarter, but Sopic stepped up her play in
the third quarter and limited Bradford's most potent scoring threat to
just four points. Cline hit a pair of foul shots to start the fourth
quarter and give Bradford a 41-37 lead.
She then hit another layup and was fouled by the Clearfield
defense. She converted the foul shot to complete the 3-point play and
all of a sudden Bradford was cruising with a 44-37 lead and Clearfield
calling for a timeout.
After the timeout, the Lady Bisons went back to what they were
doing all night long. Through solid ball movement around the
perimeter, Clearfield was able to move the Bradford defense all over
the floor. This created shots on both the inside and outside, and
Clearfield made those shots count.
Howell's 3-pointer from the left wing jumpstarted Clearfield with
6:10 to play, despite trailing 46-40. Byerly then hit a lyup and
Sopic's jumper pulled Clearfield within striking distance, 46-44, with
4:20 left in the game.
Fuhrman's layup extended Bradford's lead, but the Lady Bisons were
not to be denied. Howell's jumper and a Mallory Janocko free throw
pulled the Lady Bisons to within one, 48-47.
Luzier's three-pointer - her second of the game - ignited the Lady
Bisons down the stretch as she gave Clearfield a 50-48 lead on a
stunned Bradford squad.
"I told the girls not to panic, there is a lot of time left. I told
them to look for the two, and if we get a couple two's to pop out for
a three. That's where Juliana (Howell) hit that three and got us to
within two," Castagnolo said.
From there Clearfield took care of the ball and showed poise on
offense by not pushing for an ill-advised shot and not fouling
Bradford on defense.
Howell hit a pair of free throws and Collins sealed the win with a
foul shot to ignite a Clearfield celebration on the court with a
3-point victory.
"We played with confidence," Castagnolo said. "We can play that
well. Now, they know they can. It's my job to keep them playing at
that level."
"This is going to give us oodles of confidence. Bradford in an
excellent team. They've lost to Hollidaysburg, Warren and Olean, N.Y.
and the had lost four games in a row. Now five."
Bradford - 50
Nicole Sifrinn 2 0-0 4, Whitney Cline 8 3-3 19, Shelby Fuhrman 4
0-0 9, Tricia Copeland 2 2-5 6, Katie White 5 2-2 12, Kayla Murphey 0
0-0 0, Britany VanScoter 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21 7-10 50.
Clearfield - 53
Juliana Howell 4 2-2 11, Nikki Collins 4 2-4 12, Elizabeth Sopic 3
2-2 8, Mallory Janocko 0 2-4 2, Annie Janocko 1 0-1 2, Alana Luzier 4
2-2 12, Madison Sopic 0 0-0 0, Ryan 1 0-0 2, Amber Byerly 1 2-4 4.
Totals: 18 12-19 53.
3-pointers: Bradford 1-12 (Sifrinn 0-1, Fuhrman 1-7, Copeland 0-2,
Murphey 0-1, VanScoter 0-1); Clearfield x-x (Howell 1-6, Collins 2-4,
A. Janocko 0-1, Luzier 2-3, Ryan 0-2).
Score By Quarters
Bradford 13 13 13 11 - 50
Clearfield 13 13 11 16 - 53
Halftime score: Clearfield 26, Bradford 26.
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