The Clearfield girls basketball team did that for the better part of three quarters against St. Marys on Friday night, as it built up a 16-point advantage midway through the third quarter.

Unfortunately for the Lady Bisons, when you play against one of the best teams in the district, you usually get one of the best players as well.

Enter the Lady Dutch's Kayla Hoohuli.

Hoohuli finished with a game-high 38 points, with 16 coming in the final eight minutes of play, to rally St. Marys to a 62-58 win.

"We couldn't stop her," said Clearfield coach Joey Castagnolo of Hoohuli. "She just turned it on and turned it on. When the game gets to crunch time, she wants the ball and she knows what to do with it."

Despite Hoohuli's heroics, Clearfield still had a chance in the final minute, as the game was knotted at 58.

Hoohuli drew a foul and made the first of two foul shots to give the Lady Dutch the lead. The second shot was off the mark, but teammate Megan Herbstritt was there to collect the rebound with 49.7 seconds left in the game.

After trying to come up with a steal, the Lady Bisons were forced to foul Hoohuli again, this time with 20.7 showing on the scoreboard.

Hoohuli made both to make it 61-58, when Castagnolo called timeout to set up a play for the game-tying shot.

The final shot was supposed to go to one of two 3-point specialists in Jayme Ryan or Sarah Kovalick, but neither was open.

Instead, point guard Gwenn Porter got a good look at the basket from the top of the 3-point arc, but it was off the mark.

"It was supposed to be for Jayme or Sarah, but it was a good shot," Castagnolo said. "I was happy with that shot. It came close."

Again, Herbstritt gathered in the rebound.

Herbstritt was fouled and went to the line for a one-and-one, but missed the shot. Yet again, Herbstritt was there for the rebound, however, and drew another foul to get the Lady Dutch into the double bonus.

The first of two was good to make it 62-58. The second was offline, but Hoohuli tracked down the loose ball as time expired.

"I was real happy until the outcome, until the final score," said Castagnolo. "We passed the ball well inside, but it was just the crucial turnovers at the inopportune times. ... We had practice this morning, just to go over things. Everything we went over, they did. We executed but we just had a couple of mental lapses."

After battling to a stalemate through the first quarter, the Lady Bisons assumed control of the game in the second.

Clearfield scored the first four points of the quarter and built on the lead in the final minutes of the half.

Ryan knocked down a pair of 3-pointers, and Porter knocked down a bucket to give the Lady Bisons a 35-23 lead at the break.

Porter scored 11 of her team-high 13 points through the first two periods, and finished with a team-high in rebounds as well. Porter finished the game with nine boards to her credit.

A Kovalick field goal extended the lead to its pinnacle with 4:52 left in the third quarter, before Hoohuli and the Lady Dutch began warming up.

St. Marys outscored Clearfield 13-4 the rest of the period, mostly because of a stingy defense that forced nine turnovers in the frame.

"I don't know if we relaxed or if we thought the game was over with, but I warned them at halftime that we had 16 minutes to go," Castagnolo said. "I don't know of we got too lackadaisical or if we just got sloppy. ... It was just the stupid little turnovers. They capitalized on them."

Hoohuli spearheaded a 13-2 run to open the fourth that gave St. Marys a 54-50 lead with 5:24 to go.

Elizabeth Peters made two straight to tie things up again, while teammate Amber Byerly and Hoohuli traded four points to tie it at 58 with a minute to go.

Byerly added 12 points off the bench for Clearfield.

After Hoohuli, no other St. Marys player scored more than seven points.

"She got on a roll. Not the team, she got on a roll," said Castagnolo. "I know she scored 38, but we still played good defense. I thought we played good defense. She's so good passing the ball, too, that you almost have to play straight up. If you have just one girl on her, she'll find the weak area."

Clearfield fell to 4-6 overall and 2-3 in the District 9 league, while the Lady Dutch improved to 6-1 in league play.

The Lady Bisons host Union this afternoon at 2:30.

St. Marys won the jayvee game, 33-22. Lori Zalno paced Clearfield with seven points.

St. Marys-62

Pelgrin 0 0-0 0, Hoohuli 13 6-8 38, Cunningham 1 1-2 4, Hawthorne 0 0-0 0, Herbstritt 2 1-3 7, Simbeck 2 3-4 7, Levenduski 3 0-0 6, Walker 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21 11-17 62.

Clearfield-58

Porter 6 0-0 13, Kovalick 4 0-1 9, Sopic 2 1-3 5, Ja. Ryan 2 0-0 6, Janocko 2 0-0 6, Peters 2 3-4 7, Byerly 6 0-0 12. Totals: 24 4-8 58.

Three-pointers: Hoohuli 6, Herbstritt 2, Cunningham; Ja. Ryan 2, Janocko 2, Porter, Kovalick.

Score by Quarters

St. Marys                                 ÁÁ11Á12Á18Á21-62

Clearfield                                  ÁÁ11Á24Á13Á10-58