YORK TWP. — Caught completely off-guard by scrappy and much-improved Buckeye on Monday, Lexi Civittolo, Jillian Miglich and the rest of the Cloverleaf girls basketball team woke up just in time.
Cloverleaf’s Lexi Civittolo scores over Buckeye’s Kaitlyn Hubeny and Madeline Smith (12) during the first quarter. (RON SCHWANE / GAZETTE)
Civittolo went bonkers in second half, Miglich, Helaina Limas and the bench played important supporting roles and the Colts cleaned up their rebounding woes to win the action-packed non-league game 68-50.
“We got yelled at at halftime — I’ll be honest with you,” said Civittolo, who scored 23 of her 27 points after recess.
Longtime coach John Carmigiano had every reason to be upset after he benched most his starters, including All-Ohioan Civittolo, in the second quarter, when the Bucks grabbed 24 offensive rebounds and took an equally unfathomable 37 shots while rallying from a double-digit deficit.
Luckily for Cloverleaf, backups McKenna Jordan, Erian Hamilton, Anna Winnicki and Kayla Wilson admirably held down the fort and gave the Colts a 31-27 halftime lead.
“Our bench definitely was a big plus tonight,” Carmigiano said.
Refueled and refocused, Civittolo and Miglich then took over.
The returning starters combined to outscore Buckeye 21-16 in the third, as Civittolo attacked the rim for 13 points and Miglich hit a pair of 3-pointers, including one in the closing seconds. Civittolo then drilled two threes sandwiched around free throws by Limas (12 points) that made the score 62-45 early in the fourth.
Buckeye (0-1), which reached 50 points for the first time in 14 games, never recovered.
“We started moving the ball well, but for whatever reason we let down,” Miglich said. “In the locker room, we got brought up by the coaches and pushed each other to bring (our spirits) back up and get the lead again.”
Despite missing six of her first seven shots and sitting for most of the second quarter, Civittolo finished with another stat-stuffing line of 27 points, 11 rebounds, six steals and three blocks. Pseudo point guard Miglich added 16 points, while guard Ava Illig chipped in seven points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Cloverleaf was outrebounded 64-42, but that number was skewed by a 31-9 second quarter. Backup center Jordan (9 rebounds, 4 blocks) also kept it from being worse.
“(Rebounding has) been a problem for us a couple games and scrimmages now,” Civittolo said. “We’re not a huge team, so we know that’s something we have to get collectively better at. We really tried to emphasize that in the second half.”
After falling behind 16-5, the Bucks settled down nicely in their first game under coach Ron Clady. Their quick, unselfish interior passing against the Colts’ zone was stout, but 18-for-86 shooting (.209) and poor transition defense early killed any chances for sustained momentum.
Power forward Samantha Hritz was stellar in her return to the program with 10 points, 10 rebounds and two assists. Backup post Kaitlyn Hubeny added six points and 10 boards, new point guard Kayla Glancy had nine points and three assists and shooting guard Olivia Hartley had nine points, five rebounds and four steals.
Even in defeat, Clady felt the performance was a good first impression.
“A lot it for us was we did what we wanted to do — we outrebounded them — but unfortunately a lot of missed shots would have changed some things,” he said. “We missed some shots we should have made, we got behind and it was a little tough to come back.”
Notes
- The Colts are 2-0 for the first time since 2008.
- Elizabeth Whetstone had 14 points as Buckeye’s junior varsity won 29-20. Maddie Boltz had seven points for Cloverleaf.
Cloverleaf 68, Buckeye 50
CLOVERLEAF 18 13 21 16 — 68
BUCKEYE 7 20 16 7 — 50
Cloverleaf — Helaina Limas 3-6-12, Lexi Civittolo 8-9-27, Taylor Barnum 2-0-4, Ava Illig 3-0-7, Jillian Miglich 6-0-16, Kassandra Kemp 0-0-0, McKenna Jordan 0-0-0, Kayla Wilson 0-0-0, Anna Winnicki 0-0-0, Erian Hamilton 1-0-2, Lisa Wangler 0-0-0. TOTALS: 23-15-68.
Buckeye — Alexa Eisenbrown 0-0-0, Samantha Hritz 3-4-10, Morgan Hama 2-1-5, Olivia Hartley 3-3-9, Kayla Glancy 4-0-9, Kaitlyn Hubeny 3-0-6, Maddie Smith 2-2-6, Gabby Glancy 2-0-5, Tori Avallone 0-0-0. TOTALS: 19-10-50.
3-point goals — Miglich 4, Civittolo 2, Illig, K. Glancy, G. Glancy. Rebounds — Cloverleaf 42 (Civittolo 11), Buckeye 64 (Hritz, Hubeny 10). Assists — Cloverleaf 13 (Illig 5), Buckeye 10 (K. Glancy 3). Records — Cloverleaf (2-0), Buckeye (0-1). Junior varsity — Buckeye 29, Cloverleaf 20