Despite big night from B-R’s Giardini, No. 18 Clyde-Savannah pulls off Class C1 Play-In upset of No. 15 Lady Wolverines behind strong 1st half finish to claim 37-32 win

BOLIVAR — For the majority of Section V, their conquest towards glory in March will begin on Tuesday. But for some select teams across all classes in the girls basketball scene, their journeys would kick into gear a bit earlier than that, with the opportunity to join that hunt occuring this weekend.

Among those teams were the Bolivar-Richburg Lady Wolverines — seeded 15th in the Class C1 field, as Saturday afternoon saw them square off with No. 18 Clyde-Savannah for their opportunity to continue carving their path into the first round as one of the bracket’s Play-In contests.

It was a battle early on, and it was even more so in the second half when the action came down to the wire in the last eight minutes of the game. The Lady Wolverines were on the move and closing in quick on the coattails of Clyde-Savannah down the stretch, assembling one of their strongest outings on offense to boot.

But at the end of the afternoon, the Lady Golden Eagles were able to hang on and secure the open vacancy at the top of the Class C1 bracket with an upset victory, using a first half lead and cementing it just enough to stave off Bolivar-Richburg’s late push to secure what was a 37-32 road win.

Although baskets were difficult to come by across the opening frame of play, it allowed Clyde-Savannah to build an edge to carry forward with them. That edge was sharpened in the second quarter, where a strong conclusion to the first half of action was constructed behind contributions from five different Lady Golden Eagles. As a result, a 15-8 run of the Lady Wolverines allowed them to branch their advantage from a single point to eight at the break.

In the second half, Bolivar-Richburg would take aim at shaking it off and rebound with their two best stands of offense in the contest. Behind 12 gargantuan second half points from Raegan Giardini, the Lady Wolverines chipped away and remained right behind Clyde-Savannah, chasing their coattails every step of the way.

That would aid in their application of pressure in the final eight minutes of play, where they provided a narrow 9-5 outscoring of the Lady Golden Eagles to climb back within reach. But in the end, the visitors would remain vigilant to ward off the late push to punch their ticket to the opening round with a meeting at No. 2 Bloomfield after the weekend.

Giardini would finish with a game-high 21 points to lead Bolivar-Richburg on offense. Carmen Crowley chipped in five points, while Nadia Baldwin and Sydney Faulkner rounded off the scoring with the team’s last six points combined, scoring four and two respectively.

The campaign for the Lady Wolverines has officially reached its conclusion, as they wrap up with a record of 5-13 overall. The team will say goodbye to their lone senior, Caitlyn Steiner, when the end of the school year arrives at the end of June.

Clyde-Savannah 7 15 10 5 – 37

Bolivar-Richburg 6 8 9 9 – 32

CLYDE-SAVANNAH: Larissa Walters 4 0-0 8, Lily Revelle 3 0-2 8, Taylor Carnevale 4 1-2 11, Taylor Record 1 1-2 3, Katie Cronin 1 0-0 2, Jayda Jones 2 0-0 5. Totals: 15 2-6 37.

BOLIVAR-RICHBURG: Nadia Baldwin 1 1-4 4, Raegan Giardini 7 7-14 21, Sydney Faulkner 1 0-0 2, Carmen Crowley 2 1-2 5. Totals: 11 9-20 32.

3-point goals: Clyde 5 (Revelle 2, Carnevale 2, Jones), B-R 1 (Baldwin).
Total Fouls: Clyde 14, B-R 13. Fouled out: None.