HYDE – The start of the new year turned out to be a good one Monday night for the Philipsburg-Osceola Lady Mounties basketball team as they took care of Clearfield 57-36. The victory gives Philipsburg a 6-3 mark on the year while Clearfield dropped below .500 at 3-4.
Lady Mountie Taylor Harpster was just too much to handle for Clearfield, as the 5’ 10” junior hit the nets for a game high 22 points. Harpster who had 15 at the half, picked up seven in the final frame as the Mounties made a rout of it, outscoring their hosts 22-7.
Clearfield did start out with a 5-0 margin only to have the Lady Mounties go on a 7-0 run of their own in the first eight minutes. It was all even after one though at 12 each. Harpster paved the way with eight early points thanks to hitting two three pointers.
Philipsburg-Osceola took command of the battle by outscoring the Bisons in the second quarter 14-6. The Mountie defense held the Bisons to just one field goal to take a 26-18 lead into the lockers.
The cold shooting that the Bisons experienced wasn’t lost on Clearfield head coach Joey Castagnolo, “In the second quarter we shot 1 for 16 from the field and that certainly won’t get it done.”
Clearfield did cut the Mountie margin to just 5 late in the third quarter on a three by junior Jayme Ryan which gave Castagnolo a moment of hope, “When Jayme hit that three, and we cut the lead to 5, I thought we had gained the momentum but then they went on a 10-0 run to basically put the game away.”
As mentioned earlier, the Lady Mounties did put the game away with that 22-7 margin they gained in the final eight minutes.
Another telling stat on the evening was that Philipsburg out rebounded the Lady Bisons by a huge gap, 57-27.
Castagnolo did find one bright spot on the night, “We did do well in beating their press, which I feel will help us down the line.”
Maureen Witters dumped in 14 to help Harpster on offense for Philipsburg under first year head coach Missy Helsel.
Clearfield was led by senior Annie Janocko with ninepoints while Ryan added eight.
In the first game, the Lady Mounties JV team stung the Lady Bisons 38-28.
The Lady Bisons return to the court as they travel to Brookville Tuesday night to battle the Lady Raiders while the Lady Mounties also hit the road as they visit Lewistown.
PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA – Maureen Witters 6 0-0 14, MacKenzie Wilson 1 0-0 2, Taylor Harpster 9 1-1 22, Erika Patrick 3 2-2 8, Megan Yonushonis 3 1-2 7, Chelsea Rex 0 0-0 0, Lauren Simcox 2 0-0 4, Mary Harpster 0 0-0 0, Danielle McKnight 0 0-0 0. TOTALS – 24 4-5 57
CLEARFIELD – Gwenn Porter 1 1-2 3, Annie Janocko 4 1-3 9, Sarah Kovalick 2 0-0 5, Madison Sopic 2 0-0 4, Jayme Ryan 2 2-2 8, Elizabeth Peters 2 0-1 4, Amber Byerly 1 1-3 3, Angela Moore 0 0-0 0, Lori Zalno 0 0-0 0, Jocelyn Schultz 0 0-0 0, Kristen Butler 0 0-0 0. TOTALS – 14 5-11 36
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
P-O 12 14 10 21 57
CLEARFIELD 12 6 11 7 36
THREE-POINTERS: PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA – 5 – Witters 2, Harpster 3.
CLEARFIELD – 3 – Ryan 2, Kovalick 1.