By JIM MULCAHY
Daily Press staff

The St. Marys Area Lady Dutch basketball team staged a second half rally to defeat the Clearfield Lady Bisons by a 62-58 score last night a Clearfield.

The Lady Bisons held a 35-23 lead at the end of the first half. In the second half, the Lady Dutch outscored Clearfield by a 39-26 margin to win the game by four.

“It was a great second half defensive effort led by Kayla Hoohuli, Leanne Levenduski, Emily Hathorn, Amanda Simbeck and Megan Herbstritt,” said St. Marys coach Bob Swanson. “They helped erase a 12-point Clearfield lead.”

“Leading rebounders for the night were Megan Herbstritt with 11 and Kayla Hoohuli with 10. Hoohuli also came up with six steals and Herbstritt had four,” added coach Swanson.

St. Marys was led by Kayla Hoohuli with 38 points on seven twos, six threes and a six for eight night from the foul line. Megan Herbstritt and Amanda Simbeck were next with seven points each.

Clearfield was led by Gwenn Porter with 13 points on five twos and a three. Amber Byerly was next with 12 points on six field goals.

The first period of play last night saw both teams score 11 points. Hoohuli led St. Marys with six while Porter had seven for Clearfield.

The second quarter found Clearfield outscoring the Lady Dutch by a 24-12 margin as they took a 35-23 halftime lead. Hoohuli paced the Lady Dutch with eight in the period. Ryan led Clearfield with six.

St. Marys came out in the third period and outscored their hosts by an 18-13 margin to cut the Clearfield lead to 48-41 with eight minutes remaining. St. Marys was led by Hoohuli with eight. Janocko led Clearfield with six.

In the final quarter, St. Marys outscored the Lady Bisons by a 21-10 margin to win the game 62-58. Hoohuli led St. Marys with 16 points. Byerly and Peters each had four to pace Clearfield.

Game notes

The Lady Dutch are now 13-1 overall and 6-1 in District 9 League play.

St. Marys will return to action next Wednesday when they travel to Kane to take on the Lady Wolves in a non-league contest.

St. Marys 62

Gina Pelgrin 0-0-0-0-0, Kayla Hoohuli 7-6-6-8-38, Tia Cunningham 0-1-1-2-4, Emily Hathorn 0-0-0-0-0, Megan Herbstritt 0-2-1-3-7, Amanda Simbeck 2-0-3-4-7, Leanne Levenduski 3-0-0-0-6, Rachel Walker 0-0-0-0-0. Totals 12-9-11-17-62.

Clearfield 58

Gwenn Porter 5-1-0-0-13, Sarah Kovalick 3-1-0-1-9, Madison Sopic 2-0-1-3-5, Jayme Ryan 0-2-0-0-6, Annie Janocko 0-2-0-0-6, Elizabeth Peters 2-0-3-4-7, Amber Byerly 6-0-0-0-12. Totals 18-6-4-8-58.

Score by quarters

St. Marys   11  12  18  21   62

Clearfield   11  24  13  10   58

JV’s win

The St. Marys junior varsity team won a 33-22 contest.

St. Marys took an 11-2 first period lead then outscored Clearfield 8-6 in the second quarter to take a 19-8 halftime lead.

In the third period St. Marys outscored Clearfield 9-6. In the fourth quarter Clearfield outscored the Lady Dutch 9-5 to make the final score 33-22 in favor of the Lady Dutch.

St. Marys scoring: Sloan Foster 1, Jenna Anderson 3, Chelsea Walker 9, Jessie Donachy 2, Abbey Cribbs 2, Mandy Gerarge 7, Rachel Walker 9.

Clearfield scoring: Angela More 5, Lori Zalno 7, Lisa Ambuski 3, Julia Ammerman 1, Kistan Butler 4, Ana Dungan 2.