STRATTANVILLE, Pa. – Having a quick turnaround for games is never easy in basketball, but Clarion-Limestone rebounded from their tough loss at Union last night to post a 56-26 victory over Oil City on Saturday afternoon at the Lions’ Den in Strattanville.
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Frances Milliron led the Lady Lions with 19 points as seven of the 10 girls who played for C-L entered the scorebook. Alyssa Wiant added 11 points, while Kendall Dunn and Lexi Coull each added seven. Milliron also added five steals and five rebounds. Maddie Wenner collected six boards.
“After having to eliminate our junior varsity schedule and after a hard game last night, it was good for our kids to have a game like this,” said C-L head coach Gus Simpson. “We were able to get some valuable minutes for our younger girls and get some of the older kids some rest.”
Oil City led 3-2 early and then trailed just 6-5 midway through the first quarter before C-L (3-6) closed the quarter on a 9-0 run for a 15-5 lead after one. The Lady Lions extended their lead with a 14-1 advantage in the second quarter to take a 29-6 halftime lead.
Oil City would muster just 10 shots from the field in the first half.
“It all stems from our defense, which has been our motto for a long time,” said Simpson. “Once we got a couple of steals and some easy baskets, everybody was able to get comfortable.”
The lead grew to 29 at 45-16 through three quarters as C-L held a 16-10 scoring advantage in the third quarter. Milliron scored eight points in the frame for C-L. Kennemuth scored all six of her total points in the period as well.
A free throw by Coull early in the fourth quarter to set the mercy rule running clock into effect as C-L led 46-16. The Lady Lions finished the quarter with an 11-10 advantage to set the final score. Wiant scored six points for C-L in the quarter.
“We just take things one game at a time, and we just want to try and finish games,” said Simpson. “That’s something we didn’t do last night. We were down eight at halftime and turned that into a nine-point lead ourselves heading to the fourth. We just weren’t able to finish that one-off, and that’s something we have to keep working on.”
Maddie Marczak led Oil City with nine points while Emma Stahl added seven.
