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Lady Chucks reach eighth district title game in nine years |
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Written by Dan Walk
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Wednesday, 03 March 2010 |
Punxsy senior Amber Fye (left) is chased by Clearfield's Jayme Ryan during the final quarter of the Lady Chucks' 49-37 victory Tuesday night. (Photo by Dan Walk/The Punxsutawney Spirit)
PUNXSUTAWNEY — The one-year drought is over.
After last year's District IX Class AAA Semifinal loss to Clearfield ended Punxsy's string of seven-straight district title game appearances, the Lady Chucks are right back in the saddle again following a 49-36 victory over Clearfield Tuesday night in Punxsutawney.
Amber Fye and Hannah Neal paced Punxsy with 14 points apiece, and the Lady Chucks (12-11) forced 22 turnovers to end the Lady Bisons' season and reach the district championship game against St. Marys. Punxsy will try to stop the Lady Dutch from winning their third consecutive district crown Saturday, with the game tentatively scheduled for 1 p.m.
"After one year of not being there, it feels pretty good," Punxsy head coach Randy Reitz said. "The girls played hard for 32 minutes and played very good defense. Offensively, we did some things that kept Clearfield off-balance."
Punxsy's defense was stifling during a 10-minute period between the second and third quarters, as the Lady Bisons (15-8) managed just one point during that span.
The defensive shutdown started when the game was tied at 18, and by the time Clearfield finally made a field goal — a three-pointer by Jayme Ryan — Punxsy was up 37-19.
"Our defense has been very, very good all year," Reitz said. "We got in the passing lanes, and we were able to get our trail hand down to get a couple steals. Our post kids did a nice job of denying the entrance pass in."
A basket from Madison Sopic to start the fourth quarter trimmed Punxsy's advantage to 10 at 39-29 when the Lady Chucks went on a 7-0 run to clinch the game.
Punxsy managed 16 steals in the contest, led by Jenna Reitz's five. Though Reitz didn't make a field goal, she took few shots, dished five assists and provided Punxsy with exactly the kind of ball handling it needed to win a playoff game.
"She's learning with experience, and the other kids are moving to the open areas," Reitz said. "We're just doing a much better job of reading each other on the offensive end."
Fye's 14-point effort included four rebounds, three steals and three assists. She played as well as she normally does defensively, but after entering the game scoring just 6.2 points per contest, her offensive push was huge for the Lady Chucks. Fye connected on two three-pointers during the second quarter that were answers to Clearfield baskets 10 seconds later each time.
"Amber played very well offensively," Reitz said. "She hit some jump shots for us that were big in the first half."
Shawnna Crago missed a handful of lay-ups, but finished with 11 points, six rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Megan McCully added seven points, seven rebounds and three steals, and Neal's game also included two steals and two assists.
Gwenn Porter was limited to just one basket for Clearfield. She entered the game scoring 11.3 points per game and totaled a 14-point effort in last year's playoff game against Punxsy.
Porter battled foul trouble before fouling out with 5 1/2-minutes left in the game.
"Jenna did a very good job on Porter tonight," coach Reitz said. "We kind of took Clearfield out of what they wanted to do, and we were able to capitalize on that."
Sopic scored a team-best 10 points for Clearfield. Both Ryan and Elizabeth Peters added eight, and Amber Byerly managed six.
Punxsy led 25-18 at halftime before Clearfield was forced to switch from its zone defense to a man-to-man. That led to more fouls, as Punxsy was already in the bonus with 1 1/2-minutes left in the third quarter.
Punxsy's defense will need to play the same, if not better, to contend with St. Marys Saturday. The Lady Dutch will be ready for what Punxsy has to offer, considering the Lady Chucks' 62-59 upset of St. Marys Feb 15.
Though Punxsy lost at home to St. Marys by the score of 44-35 Jan. 19, Punxsy led entering the fourth quarter.
St. Marys is 2-0 in district championship games since the arrival of Kayla Hoohuli, who is averaging 51 percent of her team's points at 29.8 per game this season.
"I hope we're right there at the end of the ball game. It's been two close ball games, and I'm looking for another close ball game Saturday," Reitz said. "We need to continue playing good defense, and hopefully, our offense will be as good as our defense Saturday. St. Marys is going to put some points on the board, and we have to match it."
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 04 March 2010 )
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