HYDE – The Clearfield Area High School girls basketball team not only will be traveling to District 10 for Tuesday night\’s PIAA Class AAA play-in game against Franklin, the District 9 runner-up Lady Bisons will be appearing on the Lady Knights\’ home floor.
Tip-off will be at 7 p.m. in \”The Castle.\”
Clearfield coach Joey Castagnolo had been expecting a District 9 site since last year\’s D-9 runner-up Clearfield boys and Punxsutawney girls traveled to Edinboro for a double-header.
Wrong.
\”We\’re in the state playoffs. How can a team have homecourt advantage?\” asked the puzzled Castagnolo. \”I\’m not the only coach complaining about this. It just doesn\’t make any sense.
\”They have a better record, but we have the better seed. I don\’t understand why it\’s not on a neutral court. I don\’t know if the PIAA is trying to save money or what, but it\’s really not fair to my kids.
\”They\’ve to go be ecstatic up there. You fight all year to have a home game for district playoffs. You don\’t expect to get a home game in the state playoffs. And they\’re 10-0 at home, too.\”
Region 5 champion Franklin earned D-10\’s third berth with a 60-55 victory over Slippery Rock in double overtime Saturday for a 20-5 record. The teams split during the regular season, Franklin losing 55-46 in December and winning 62-49 in January.
The Lady Knights were 4-4 in late December and then reeled off 14 wins in a row before losing 60-33 to state-ranked Mercyhurst Prep in the D-10 semifinals last Wednesday.
One of Franklin\’s home wins came against Bradford, 54-17, in their Dec. 5 season opener.
Clearfield (13-11) owns two victories over Bradford, beating their District 9 League rivals 45-27 in Arthur J. Weiss Gym on Dec. 23 and 47-41 on the Lady Owls\’ hardwood a month later.
The Lady Bisons and Lady Knights are similar in that they like to rain three-pointers on their opponents.
Saddie Gravatt, a 5-6 junior guard who leads Franklin in scoring with just under 18 points a game, has canned 66 threes, while 5-9 freshman forward Natalie Hager and 5-6 freshman guard Bethany Foust have almost three dozen apiece.
Hager and 5-6 freshman guard Brooke Deal are averaging 12 and six points, respectively.
Autumn Witt, a 5-10 sophomore forward, reached double figures in the Lady Knights\’ D-10 playoff victories over Warren 65-45 and Slippery Rock.
Clearfield has made 86 threes in 343 attempts, which is 45 percent of the team\’s total shots. Wing players Jayme Ryan, a junior, and Sarah Kovalick, a senior, have sunk 43 and 27, respectively.
However, the Lady Bisons were only 3-for-13 in their 43-34 D-9 semifinal win over Punxsy and just 2-for-16 in their 56-28 championship game loss to St. Marys.
Both of those teams played tight man-for-man defense, and that\’s what the Lady Bisons will see again.
\”I know they play tough defense,\” Castagnolo said. \”I\’m just hoping we can adjust and take care of the basketball. And play well.
\”We\’re going to play our zone and just play the best we can and see what happens.\”
Four of Clearfield\’s starters are averaging from 6.9 to 7.5 points, led by 5-6 junior point guard Gwenn Porter\’s 181 tallies.
Annie Janocko, a 5-10 senior forward, is right behind at 7.4 with 177 points, while the 5-6 Kovalick is next at 7.1 with 171 points and the 5-10 Ryan is at 6.9 with 166 points.
Madison Sopic, a 5-9 guard, is the other starter. She has 121 points and a 5.5 average.
Junior 5-9 post players Amber Byerly (133, 5.5) and Elizabeth Peters (84, 3.7) also see considerable playing time. And 5-9 junior Lori Zalno has seen her minutes increase down the stretch.
\”We\’re losing three seniors, and we\’re playing five juniors, so this will be good experience for them,\” said Castagnolo, who hasn\’t taken a team into the state tournament since his 2000 Lady Bisons won the District 9 Class AAAA title.
The winner draws District 7 (WPIAL) champion New Castle (24-2) in a 3 p.m. first-round game on Saturday at North Allegheny High School in Wexford.