By Joseph Bell

JOHNSONBURG – The Clearfield Lady Bisons (9-8) used progressive scoring while the Ramettes trudged through one of their worst offensive games of the season last night in Johnsonburg's 51-46 loss.

The Ramettes, riding the strength of a three-game winning streak, came out to a slow offensive start and didn't score their first field goal until the 3:37 mark of the first quarter by senior forward Abby Grumley. 

After a 9-9 first quarter, Grumley gave the Ramettes an early two-point lead with 7:28 remaining in the second quarter.

But despite the lead, Johnsonburg's shooters routinely missed inside shots throughout the night.

"Abby (Grumley) had I don't know how many putbacks that didn't go and (Johnsonburg senior guard) Ellie (Kocjancic) had missed putbacks too," Zilkofski said. "We just came out flat-footed. We rebounded, we had a lot of offensive rebounds but we just didn't make the shots."

Kocjancic completed a three-point play after being fouled on a successful field-goal attempt with 5:36 remaining in the first half before Clearfield's outside-shooting began to shine.

Clearfield senior guard Sarah Kovalick drained a 3-pointer at the 5:06 mark to give the visitors a two-point lead before Clearfield received two more field goals from junior forward Amber Byerly and junior forward Elizabeth Peters to grab a 19-14 lead. Down the stretch of the first half, Johnsonburg managed to take a 20-19 halftime lead courtesy of a 3-pointer by junior guard Becca Myers.

Despite the lead, the momentum shifted as the Lady Bison outscored the home team 13-9, including another trey by Kovalick with one minute remaining in the third quarter to take a one-point lead. Clearfield junior guard Gwenn Porter later scored to give the visitors the 32-29 advantage.

"We were lackadaisical on defense but on offense, we had every opportunity, the shots just didn't fall for us," Zilkofski said. "It wasn't surprising to me because (Clearfield) came into the game on a four-game winning streak."

While both teams came into the game in high notes, Zilkofski said Clearfield executed better.

"We played them (in Clearfield) and I knew they were an outside-shooting team and I told the girls that they have to get a hand in their face and we were a little slow to get to them to do that," Zilkofski said.

A 3-pointer at the start of the fourth quarter by Johnsonburg senior guard Bobbi Pritt tied the game at 32-32 before sophomore guard Justis Myers scored a layup to take a two-point lead. 

However, the Lady Bisons went on a quick 6-0 run, capped off by another 3-pointer by Kovalick to take a 38-34 lead.

"I told the girls to make sure they had a hand in their face, all of them, but they set it up nice and moved the ball well and gave (Kovalick) some good open shots," Zilkofski said. "We just lacked a little bit in getting the hand in their face and the girls have to realize who's on the floor and who's a hot hand. They have to know that and pick that up themselves. (Kovalick) did hurt us, even more so since we were a little bit flat-footed on defense."

Later in the fourth quarter, Johnsonburg senior guard Bobbi Pritt found her first 3-pointer of the night to pull the Ramettes to within three points of a tie. But after a traveling call against Clearfield, Johnsonburg lost possession on an errant pass out of bounds.

Clearfield regrouped as Porter later sank two foul shots to give Clearfield a five-point cushion.

After Johnsonburg senior guard Katie Boylan missed two consecutive free throws, Grumley grabbed an offensive rebound and scored the putback to cut the lead to three points again before Porter again delivered at the line for a 48-43 lead.

On the other end, Pritt kept the home team's hopes alive with her second 3-pointer of the quarter with 32 seconds remaining for a two-point margin. 

After Clearfield junior forward Madison Sopic converted one of her two free-throw attempts, another three-point try by Pritt struck the rim and missed. A subsequent two-point jumper by Becca Myers failed and Sopic converted two of her final four free-throw attempts to secure the 51-46 victory.

"For the girls, percentage-wise, this is probably one of the worst nights shooting," Zilkofski said after his team lost only its third home game. "I told them that we'd eventually have a bad game, every once in awhile, you're going to have a bad game and it happened to be (last night). It's a non-league game so I told the girls to 'put it behind (them).'"

However, Zilkofski said he hoped his team would benefit from the loss.

"It was good for them to know what it's like to try to come back and they have to know when to set up for three-point shots," Zilkofski said. "It's a good game for that and it's the first game that we're been behind since Elk County Catholic so we'll learn from it and just move on in practice."

The Ramettes' last loss was a 55-44 defeat against Elk County Catholic Jan. 24, which was also Johnsonburg's second road loss.

"I guess we have to practice more shots, not just shooting the outside shot. I'm not too concerned about this game," Zilkofski said. "If those shots would have fallen, we would've beat them by at least 10 or 15 points but they didn't fall."

The Ramettes, who dropped to 12-5 for the season, are scheduled to celebrate Senior Night Wednesday, Feb. 4 against visiting Ridgway (6-11). Junior varsity action is scheduled to start at 6 p.m.