CURWENSVILLE — The Curwensville Area High School girls basketball team will be trying to shake off the effects of Saturday\’s Allegheny Mountain League championship game loss to Elk County Catholic and continue its homecourt success Tuesday when Moniteau invades Patton Hall for a 7 p.m. District 9 Class AA Playoff quarterfinal.
The Lady Tide, 11-0 at home this season, is seeded second behind Karns City (19-5) in the seven-team field with a 19-5 record after the 54-37 defeat by ECC, while the Lady Warriors are 7-15 after falling 58-28 to West Forest in a Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference makeup game Saturday.
Moniteau has not beaten a team with a winning record. The Lady Warriors defeated Venango Catholic (9-15) and Rocky Grove (4-15) twice and East Forest (8-11), North Clarion (4-21) and Allegheny-Clarion Valley (0-23) once. A second game with A-C Valley has been cancelled.
However, Curwensville coach Vic Gearhart feels the Lady Warriors\’ record might be a little deceiving.
\”They\’ve played a pretty tough schedule, and they\’re a predominately senior team\” he said. \”I think we match up pretty well against them as far as personnel. They got pressed (by West Forest) and handled it pretty well. They try to penetrate, but they\’ll drive and dish. They didn\’t do a lot of outside scoring in that game.
\”Certainly, playing at home will be an advantage, especially with Moniteau traveling as far as they have to (from near Butler). We haven\’t lost at home, so, hopefully, we can keep that going. I don\’t know if anybody has done that in a long time in our gym.\”
Amy Gladd, a 5-6 senior, is the lone Lady Warrior averaging in double figures at approximately 11 points a game. Four other seniors who have produced are 5-5 Amanda Gladd and 5-8 Kenzie Timblin at about seven points a game, 5-4 Megan Campbell and 5-8 Amanda Kristufek.
Maura McCaslin, a 5-5 sophomore, is fourth on the team at about six points a game.
\”Amy Gladd is their best overall player,\” Gearhart said. \”She\’s more of a post-up player. Her sister seems to like to drive.\”
Curwensville will counter with seniors Dani Struble (445 points, 18.5 average), Jackie White (277, 12.0) and Ronna Knepp (86), junior Holly Fink (85) and sophomore Hannah Walls (145). Soph Holly Lansberry and senior Shannon Hamm are the top reserves.
Struble broke the Lady Tide season scoring record with her 16 points against ECC Saturday, passing the 438 Debbie Spackman posted in 1985.
Gearhart cited the Lady Crusaders\’ harassing man defense, the ability to work the ball for open shots and offensive rebounding as keys to the AML title game.
\”It wasn\’t anything we didn\’t expect,\” he said. \”We shot 50 percent. Probably three-quarters of that game was even, but they had that spurt where they ran off a lot of points. That\’s a tribute to their ball handling and passing skills. And we hit a stretch in the second period where we turned the ball over four or five straight times.\”
Curwensville statistics showed ECC with more than a dozen offensive rebounds and 18 assists.
\”They weren\’t getting a lot of putbacks, but they had kickouts where they made second or third shots,\” Gearhart said. \”The assists show they really move the ball well. I just think passing is key to any offense, and the quality of a pass is important. And Elk always spaced out, open and in the right spot. They\’re well coached.
\”It\’s floor awareness that our kids just don\’t have yet. I think it\’s more experience than anything. We tend to dribble too much at times. We have to be able to put the teammate in position to have that split second to do what\’s there, either an outside shot, a drive, hitting a teammate cutting or making the next pass. But if you have to struggle to catch the ball or don\’t get a good pass, you lose that. We\’re kind of in between, but those things are starting to come around. We just have to improve fundamentally.\”
Gearhart wasn\’t displeased with the Lady Tide\’s effort.
\”Our kids didn\’t quit, and I was proud of them for that,\” he said. \”They battled right to the end. We needed to get a couple balls to fall or bounce our way. Elk County was very patient. It seemed that when a ball would be up for grabs, they\’d come up with it, kick it back out and run off some more time.\”
In other 9-AA quartfinals Tuesday, No. 3 Redbank Valley (15-9) hosts No. 6 Cranberry (10-13) and No. 4 Kane (11-12) welcomes No. 5 Brookville (11-13). Karns City gets a bye.
A victory over Moniteau would send Curwensville to the semifinals Thursday against the Redbank Valley-Cranberry winner.
