Bobcat Boys Basketball Goes 1-1 On The Week, Girls Drop Game To Keystone

The Clarion Area Bobcat Varsity Boys Basketball Team played two games this week. On Monday (December 15), they traveled to Brockway, where they fell to the host Rovers, 59-45. They rebounded with a 64-44 win over the Keystone Panthers, on Wednesday (December 17).

The game was part of a four game night, at Clarion Area, with the Varsity and JV Boys and Girls all seeing action. The Varsity Girls lost to the Lady Panthers in a close 52-48 contest.

Taylor Smith’s 13 points led Clarion in the Brockway game. Brother Christian Smith followed with nine. Both had 3 three-pointers. Zach Hill had 6 points, Derek Lauer scored 5 and Thomas Plummer and Cam Craig each contributed four. Ryan Anthony scored 3 points and Luke Nellis contributed one point.

The Bobcats jumped out to a commanding 20-4 first period lead, in the Keystone game, and never looked back. With an 18-12 second quarter advantage, the Cats led at the half, 38-16.

(Photos by Bri Nellis – Bri Nellis Photography)
Taylor Smith shooting from long range against the Panthers

Clarion outscored the Panthers by one in the third, 15-14, moving the score to 53-30. A 14-11 Panther advantage, in the final stanza set the 64-44 final.

Taylor Smith led the Cats with 24 points, including 3 three-pointers, 6 rebounds and three steals. Plummer had 8 points and eight rebounds. Ceventh Lynch-Skunda also had eight points. Zach Hill had 7 points, including 2 three-pointers.

Christian Smith scored 6 points and had four rebounds. Craig had 6 points and 5 steals, Ty Burford scored 3 points and Lauer had two.

The Panthers’ Alex Graf led all scorers with twenty-five points.

The boys are now 2-1.

Coach Todd Smith had this to say about his team’s performance in this week’s games: “This was a nice team win. We moved the ball really well and played together. We tried to take a lot of charges and played smart. We learned a lot from the mistakes we made against Brockway and went out tonight and tried to correct them and get better. That’s all you can ask. It was great effort tonight and something to build on.”

Lady Cat Maci Thornton and Keystone’s Madison Johnson put on a show, in the girls’ game, as the two returning All-Staters, matched each other over the course of the contest. Each scored a game high twenty-two points. Each had 5 rebounds and Thornton had 6 steals to Johnson’s five.

Maci Thornton shooting a free throw

Keystone led 12-6, after one and 28-19, at the half. The Lady Cats had a one point, 11-10 advantage in the third and outscored the Lady Panthers, 18-14 in the final stanza.

Alexis Constantino scored in double figures, for the Cats, with ten. Anna Reed added six points. Kelly Beveridge and Nicki Glenn each scored 3 points and Maddy Weaver and Maya Thornton each had two.

The Varsity and Junior Varsity Teams will host Union on Monday (December 22.)

(Thanks to Bri Nellis of Bri Nellis Photography for the photos.)