lbsbball031225

CLARION — The Clearfield Lady Bison basketball team saw its most successful season in program history come to an unfortunate end late Wednesday evening at PennWest Clarion's Tippin Gymnasium, as the Lady Bison fell to the defending Class 4A state champion and WPIAL two-seed Blackhawk Lady Cougars, 58-32.

With the Lady Bison playing the nightcap of a PIAA doubleheader that saw a Class A matchup between Otto-Eldred and Williamsburg, that game was delayed almost an hour and 15 minutes from its scheduled 6 p.m. tip time due to an accident earlier in the day on Interstate 80.

Once Blackhawk and Clearfield finally tipped off at 9:01 p.m., the defending state champs, which also won it a year ago as the WPIAL runner-ups, jumped out to a 7-0 lead in what was quite the physical contest.

"They're a solid program," Clearfield head coach Missy Helsel said of Blackhawk. "Well-coached, good disciple. We knew it was going to be a battle coming in. A couple loose balls and things didn't go our way that normally do. We just didn't seem to get ourselves in a rhythm at all tonight."

The Lady Bison cut that early Blackhawk lead to three at 9-6, thanks to early buckets from Eve Helsel and Sonny Diehl. After a Mia Sheesley and-one conversion gave Blackhawk a 12-6 lead, Diehl answered with an acrobatic shot in the paint over a couple of defenders and Helsel's inside bucket made it a 12-10 ballgame with about 45 seconds left in the first quarter. But from there, Grace Huston came off the bench and hit a three with two seconds left to give the Lady Cougars a 15-10 first quarter lead.

Diehl got another bucket for the Lady Bison to start the second quarter — she led Clearfield with 14 points and five boards — but it was all Blackhawk from there as they went on a 10-3 run to end the second quarter and the Lady Bison found themselves at a 25-15 halftime deficit.

Also plaguing the Lady Bison were plenty of turnovers as both teams had their fair share of them, with Blackhawk capitalizing on them the most.

"That's unusual for us — we haven't had games like that," coach Helsel said. "I said that to my coaches sitting on the bench that this is probably one of the highest turnovers we've had all season."

After trailing by 10 at the half, the Lady Bison cut the deficit to single digits on a couple of occasions midway through the third quarter — the last of which was an inside score by Hannah Glunt to make it 29-20. The Lady Cougars then went on an 8-0 run to essentially put the game out of reach.

Blackhawk closed out the game by piling up 21 points in the fourth quarter to set the final at 58-32 as Aubree Happ had 10 of those points. Overall, Happ and the Lady Cougars crashed the boards early and often as Happ notched 18 points and 20 rebounds — Sheesley led the team with a game-high 22 points while Alivia Rabick had 10.

Eve Helsel had 11 points — six of those in the first quarter — as the only other double-digit scorer for the Lady Bison as fellow starters Mia Helsel had five and Glunt had two.

"Our girls battled until the end and they have all season long," coach Helsel said. "Hannah (Glunt), I can't be prouder of her handling the pressure for us. Eve (Helsel) as a freshman, Mia (Helsel) always hits some big shots. Myleigh (Hudson) just has tremendous defense. And Sonny (Diehl) working against (Happ) tonight, they just played super hard."

Clearfield capped off its season with a 20-6 record as it was the final game in the career of senior starter Glunt — Caitlyn Albertson was the team's other senior and has been injured for most of the year.

Although they fell on Wednesday night, Clearfield won its first PIAA game in school history on Saturday with an opening round win against Laurel Highlands, 63-55, as coach Helsel was proud of what her team has been able to accomplish this season.

"There's no team that's ever been here for Clearfield so we're happy to be the first," coach Helsel said. "I'm proud of these girls and I told them that in the locker room. Yes, there's things that we're going to improve on and work on over the summer, but getting to this point, there's definitely nothing for them to hang their heads about and they should be proud of what they've accomplished this season — and all of the people that've supported them along this journey."

With just two seniors and one starter having graduated, the hope is the momentum can continue into the 2025-26 season.

"We're going to work together all offseason and we're going to come back," coach Helsel said. "They've had a taste of this so they know what it feels like and we'll be itching to get back here next year for sure."

Blackhawk—58
Klinger 1 0-0 3, Rabick 4 1-5 10, Happ 5 8-10 18, Sheesley 8 3-5 22, Pagani 1 0-0 2, Huston 1 0-0 3, Buffalini 0 0-0 0, Fusetti 0 0-0 0, Coddington 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20 12-20 58.

Clearfield—32
Diehl 6 2-4 14, E. Helsel 5 0-0 11, Glunt 1 0-0 2, M. Helsel 2 0-0 5, Hudson 0 0-0 0, Evilsizor 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 2-4 32.

Three-pointers: Sheesley 3, Klinger, Hudson, Rabick; E. Helsel, M. Helsel.

Score by Quarters ~ Blackhawk 15 10 12 21—58
Clearfield 10 5 7 10—32