Considering how his team has dropped close games recently, Castagnolo's headache just got bigger.
Brookville came on strong after a slow first quarter, played solid defense and dominated the rebounding battle in a 38-35 win over the visiting Lady Bisons in a District 9 League makeup game.
For the Lady Raiders, it's usually not pretty offensively as they made just 25 percent of their shots from the field. But they outrebounded Clearfield, 38-25, and made some key defensive stops when they had to. At the foul line, Brookville improved on its season percentage by making 11 of 18 attempts, just enough to hold off a Lady Bisons comeback attempt at the end.
"This was an important game and it was our best game of the year," Brookville's Powell said. "We played a good basketball team tonight."
While Brookville won its third straight game and improved to 8-4 overall and 3-3 in the D9 League, Clearfield lost its fourth straight game and fell to 4-8 overall, 2-4 in the D9 League. Four of Clearfield's losses, including the last three since last Friday, have come by five points or less.
"We have to get out of this because I'm not going to the playoffs with a sub-par record," Castagnolo said. "There's still time. We have 10 games left and they're all winnable games, or we could lose them too."
Brookville took the lead for good midway through the third quarter at 22-21 on a Brynna Hetrick three-pointer and held Clearfield to just two points in a span of 7:02 into the early fourth quarter during a 12-2 run.
The Lady Raiders led by as many as 10 points at 36-26 after two Kate Reinsel free throws with 4:43 remaining before Clearfield stormed back into the game thanks to Madison Sopic's nine fourth-quarter points and a few missed Brookville free throws.
In the end, Clearfield had two chances to tie, but Annie Janocko missed a baseline jumper in heavy traffic with 12 seconds remaining. After Hetrick made one of two free throws to put Brookville up three, Sopic misfired on a 3-pointer just before the final buzzer on another chance to tie the game.
Reinsel led Brookville with 12 points, making 8 of 10 free throws. Hetrick hit three 3-pointers and finished with 10 points and Jessica Byerly scored nine points. Janelle Mescall collected 15 rebounds.
Sopic and Jayme Ryan each scored 11 points to lead Clearfield.
For Brookville, the 35 points allowed marked the fourth straight sub-40-point game allowed defensively and seventh overall. They're 5-2 in those games. The Lady Raiders are 5-0 in games they've scored over 40 points.
"That's our game," Powell said. "I think the key to our success if defense. You get (points) any way you can get it. Forty points is our goal. We haven't reached it as much as we'd like, but if we keep opposing teams in the 30s, we have a chance."
Next up for the Lady Raiders is a trip to DuBois on Wednesday. Brookville beat DuBois at home during the Christmas Tournament 44-41.
Clearfield hosts Punxsutawney Wednesday.
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