Girls basketball: Clearfield clears Bonneville with two big runs
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- Clearfield High’s Ciara De La O (1) drives past Bonneville’s Ema Eskelsen in a Region 5 girls basketball game Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Clearfield.
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- Bonneville High’s Baya Jimenez, left, brings the ball up the court against Clearfield in a Region 5 girls basketball game Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Clearfield.
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- Clearfield High’s Amoree Scholer (24) prepares to shoot against Bonneville’s Ema Eskelsen in a Region 5 girls basketball game Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Clearfield.
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- Clearfield High’s Destini Gomez, center left, surveys the floor as Bonneville’s Adisyn Stone (34) defends in a Region 5 girls basketball game Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Clearfield.
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- Bonneville High’s Whitni Johnson (13) handles the ball against the defense of Clearfield’s Ciara De La O (1) in a Region 5 girls basketball game Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Clearfield.
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- Clearfield High’s Isabelle Wyaskett puts up a jump shot in a Region 5 girls basketball game against Bonneville on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Clearfield.
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- Bonneville High’s Baya Jimenez throws a pass in a Region 5 girls basketball game against Clearfield on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Clearfield.
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- Clearfield High’s Isabelle Wyaskett (11) fires a jumper over the Bonneville defense in a Region 5 girls basketball game Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Clearfield.
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- Bonneville High’s Adisyn Stone (34) surveys the floor over Clearfield’s Ciara De La O (1) in a Region 5 girls basketball game Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Clearfield.
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- Bonneville High’s Adisyn Stone (34) handles in the high post against Clearfield’s Ciara De La O in a Region 5 girls basketball game Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Clearfield.
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- Clearfield High’s Abbie Thayne (10) and Bonneville’s Adisyn Stone (34) contest the jump ball to begin a Region 5 girls basketball game Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Clearfield.
CLEARFIELD — When you consider that Clearfield High girls basketball went on an 18-1 run in the first half Wednesday, it’s amazing that Bonneville was still in the game, tied at 27 midway through the third quarter.
But the Falcons took flight again, soaring to a 26-6 advantage over the next eight minutes, stamping out any thoughts of a Bonneville upset.
Scrappy Clearfield combined a deft defense and an efficient offense with precision, and blasted Bonneville 60-43 in a Region 5 sweep of the season series.
Bonneville (8-10, 3-4 Region 5) drew even at 27-27 on a corner 3 by freshman guard Bailey Webb at the 3:58 mark before Clearfield’s 26-6 run started innocently enough on a free throw by senior guard Izzy Wyaskett.
“My free throw shooting is so much better than last year when it was 56%; this year it’s 75,” Wyaskett said. “People think they are easy shots, but it’s really the most mental part of the game; it’s nice to see my work pay off.”
Wyaskett’s free throw jump-started a fourth quarter where she scored 11 of Clearfield’s 24 points.
“My defense helped a lot. When my adrenaline gets going and I get a good steal, it makes me more pumped up, and when I get pumped up, I want to play harder … makes me more confident to go to the basket,” Wyaskett said.
She finished with a game-high 21 points for Clearfield (12-7, 7-1), including 7 of 8 from the charity stripe.
Senior guard Brighton Bernards had a big role in the run, scoring five points, including a driving basket and the resulting free throw — her second such play of the game — as the Falcons closed the third quarter (36-28) on a 9-1 spurt as part of the overall burst.
“When our shots aren’t falling, coach tells us to go into the lane and try to get fouled. Go up strong and get the free throws,” Bernards said. “In practice, we do a lot of free-throw conditioning to make sure our percentage is high because in tight games, it can come down to that.”
Bernards scored 12 points on five field goals and 2-of-2 free throws on the drive-and-ones.
“This season I’ve found getting to the basket has helped me a lot. … Getting to the rim and being able to finish layups and free throws is a huge thing,” Bernards said. “We kept focus instead of giving up and letting them come back and beat us. We stayed calm; we slowed it down and did one pass at a time, getting it to the open person, and we got up.”
One of the open players during the Falcons’ run was senior center Emiko Kano, who nailed back-to-back 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter, highlighting their game plan.
“We had a shooting slump, but when my shots aren’t going in, I’m looking for my teammates so they can get a good shot,” Wyaskett said. “We’re really good when we drive in and kick out; that was Emmy’s first two 3s of the year.”
Bernards also credited Kano for keeping the Falcons on fire, noting, “It brought our momentum up when we saw her shots go in. We realized we all can shoot if we try our best.”
Bonneville opened the game with a 10-3 lead, keyed by four points from senior guard Ema Eskelsen and three free throws by Mylie Miera.
“We went out with the mentality that we’re going to leave it all on the court; give as much effort as we can and get after it,” Bonneville assistant coach Hannah Lujan said.
Clearfield’s 18-1 run began at that point, evening up at 10-10 on a rebound basket by Bernards, and capped by a rebound basket by Ciara De La O halfway through the second stanza, making it 21-11.
“One of our biggest things was even though we were down, we kept focus. Instead of freaking out, do what we do best,” Bernards said. “We had a talk after our last game because we didn’t rebound very well. Coach talked about getting every single rebound; boxing out and going back up gives us momentum and if you get fouled, you get fouled trying to get the basket.”
The Falcons led 24-18 at the break, but Bonneville came out inspired in the third quarter, getting to the 27-27 tie.
“We used halftime to reset. Reset our focus. Reset our mentality. Reset our effort. I challenged the girls. We’ve got to come out and play our way and they did exactly what I asked them to do,” Lujan said. “We did that consistently until that fourth quarter when it got away from us at the end. We got tired and had some mistakes. Shots weren’t falling and we ran out of gas.”
Junior guard Baya Jimenez and Eskelsen paced the Lakers attack with identical stat lines of three field goals, one of them a trey, and three free throws, totaling 10 points each.
“We want to have a chance to win region champs,” Wyaskett said. “Coming into this game, we knew we couldn’t have a letdown, so we put our heads together and pulled this one out.”
