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Clearfield girls top Johnsonburg on Retro Night
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
By Rich Murawski Assistant Sports Editor
HYDE - They warmed up to Van Halen, Toni Basil, MC Hammer and Madness. They wore thick headbands, big ponytails and jerseys from the 1980s. And the Clearfield girls basketball team took care of business Monday night at the Arthur J. Weiss Gymnasium on Retro Night.
The Lady Bisons got 14 points, seven rebounds, three assists and four steals from Madison Sopic, 11 points from Gwenn Porter and six points, eight rebounds and two blocks from Amber Byerly on their way to a 51-46 win over a scrappy Johnsonburg team.
"The kids really enjoyed Retro Night," Clearfield head coach Joey Castagnolo said. "We're here for the kids for them to have fun and have a good learning experience. They really had a lot of fun, but they got focused when they needed to."
Clearfield needed that focus from the get-go as it became apparent early on that the shots weren't going to fall for either team.
The Lady Bisons took a 5-0 lead on a Jayme Ryan 3-pointer and two free throws from Elizabeth Peters, only to see the Lady Rams come back to tie things up at 7-7. A pair of Porter buckets gave Clearfield an 11-7 lead after one quarter.
Johnsonburg dominated the board in the first quarter, outrebounding the Lady Bisons, 11-4. Taylor Harvey ripped down seven rebounds herself in the first for the Lady Rams.
The Lady Rams continued crashing the boards in the second quarter, limiting Clearfield to just one shot each time down the floor, while getting second looks on their offensive end several times.
Hurting the Lady Bisons on the glass was the fact that Byerly missed much of the first half in foul trouble.
"We're just not swarming to get rebounds," Castagnolo said. "We have to work on that. We have to crash the boards."
Despite its problems on the glass, Clearfield extended its lead to as many as seven points in the second quarter. Breanna Peters scored five in the quarter, filling in for Byerly.
"Breanna did a nice job helping out with Amber in foul trouble," Castagnolo said.
Clearfield took a 24-19 lead into the half, and came out of the break with fields goals from Byerly and Elizabeth Peters to make the score 28-19. The score stayed that way until the 3:30 mark in the quarter with both teams struggling to hit shots.
Johnsonburg was just 2-for-15 from the floor in the third, while Clearfield went 4-for-12.
For the game, the Lady Rams shot 30 percent from the floor, hitting 18 of their 60 shots. Clearfield hit for 29 percent (18-for-62).
Castagnolo said the shooting percentage was the main difference between Monday night's game and an early season meeting in Johnsonburg, which the Lady Bisons won 56-29.
"We made our shots up there, but we struggled tonight," he said.
Clearfield led 34-27 after three quarters and basically kept a six- to eight-point cushion throughout the final stanza until Rachel Thompson drilled a 3-pointer on an inbounds play to give the Lady Bisons their biggest lead of the game, 49-38.
"I'm trying to work Rachel in the rotation more," Castagnolo said. "She's an underclassman that needs varsity playing time. We need her to get some crucial minutes. I'm happy with her play."
Down, but not out, Johnsonburg's Cody Anderson and Justis Myers drilled 3-pointers on consecutive possessions, and Anna Polaski added a field goal off an offensive rebound to get right back in the game, 49-46.
But Johnsonburg had to foul, and Sopic connected on two of four free throws with under 30 seconds left to salt the game away.
"Johnsonburg came to play. My hat is off to them," Castagnolo said. "But I still feel like we controlled the whole game. We controlled the tempo.
"Johnsonburg played that diamond-and-one defense and it got us frustrated. But a game like this was good for us. We handled the ball with confidence down the stretch."
Clearfield only turned the ball over nine times in the contest. Johnsonburg committed 24 turnovers.
"We didn't capitalize on the turnovers," Castagnolo said. "We had those easy shots, but couldn't make them."
Sopic scored eight of her game-high 14 points in the final quarter. She also added a pair of crucial assists during the Lady Bisons' early fourth-quarter run.
"Madison had a nice floor game tonight," Castagnolo said.
Clearfield improved to 10-6 with the win.
The Lady Bisons won the jayvee game, 43-31. Thompson paced the hosts with 14 points.
Clearfield is back in action tonight at Elk County Catholic.
NOTES: Myers led the Lady Rams with 12 points and added 12 rebounds, while Anderson netted 11 - nine in the fourth quarter ... Harvey finished the game with nine points and 13 rebounds before fouling out midway through the fourth quarter ... Johnsonburg won the battle on the boards, 46-32 ... Elizabeth Peters had seven rebounds and three steals for Clearfield. Johnsonburg-46
Polaski 3 2-2 8, J. Myers 5 0-0 12, Harvey 3 3-3 9, K. Myers 1 0-0 3, Fowler 1 0-0 3, Anderson 5 0-0 11, Randolph 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18 5-5 46.
Clearfield-51
Ja. Ryan 2 0-0 6, Porter 4 3-4 11, Sopic 6 2-6 14, E. Peters 1 3-4 5, Byerly 2 2-3 6, Moore 0 0-0 0, Zalno 0 0-0 0, B. Peters 2 2-4 6, Thompson 1 0-0 3. Totals: 18 12-21 51.
Three-pointers: J. Myers 2, K. Myers, Fowler, Anderson; Ja. Ryan 2, Thompson.
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