Clarion Area Junior High Girls Sweep Karns City In Hoops Action (11/20/14)

(By Coach Dave Constantino)

“A” Game – Clarion 28 Karns City 26

Clarion Area saved their best for last in their last second victory over Karns City Thursday (November 20) afternoon at Clarion Area High School gymnasium.

Clarion trailed the Lady Gremlins 26-25 with 18 seconds left in the game. Gabby Weaver stole an in-bounds pass and was fouled on her drive to the basket. Weaver made the first free throw to tie the game up. She missed the ensuing free throw and Dorothy Kalinowski grabbed the key rebound and was fouled on the put back attempt. She calmly made both free throws to put the Cats up by 2 with 10 seconds to play. Clarion then made a last second defensive stand to claim the victory.

Clarion started out slow once again, as they trailed 6-3 at the end of one, but rebounded in the second quarter to lead 13-12 at the half.

The Cats led 23-18 heading into the final quarter and then held on for the two-point win.

Clarion was led by Wendy Beveridge’s 11 points and Gabby Weaver’s 7 tallies. Ali Troese fired in 6 points and Dorothy Kalinowski finished with 4.

It was a gutsy victory for the young Cats as sickness hit their team hard this week. Two girls were out with the flu and one girl is still recovering from a concussion. Nonetheless, Clarion gutted out the two point victory.

“B” Game – Clarion 23 Karns City 10

The Clarion B team continues to get better and better each time they step onto the floor. The Lady Cats found themselves down 4-1 with four minutes left in the first half and then went on 18-2 run that gave them a 19-6 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Lady Cats did a nice job attacking the zone trap that Karns City employed and worked the ball around to get good, quality shots throughout the game.

Kaitlyn Constantino led the Cats in scoring with 10 points. Both Carly Best and Ali Troese finished with 4 points. Lindsey Kemmer and Abby Harbaugh knocked in 2 points a piece and Cassie Acey finished with 1.

The B team was also without the services of 2 players due to injury. The girls were forced to play a lot in minutes and did a great job in doing so.

Both teams are 4-3 for the season and return to action Tuesday (November 25)as they will host Cranberry with the “B” game starting at 3:45.

(Thanks to Coach Constantino for this article. Way to go Lady Cats!!!!)