HEILWOOD – The winless Curwensville Area High School girls basketball team hung with Bellwood-Antis for three quarters of the Penns Manor Holiday Classic consolation game Saturday evening, but the Lady Tide scored only four points in the fourth period and lost 47-36 to the Lady Devils.
Curwensville\’s Holly Fink was rewarded for a 13-point, 10-rebound performance by being named to the all-tournament team.
Hannah Walls pulled down 10 rebounds for the Lady Tide, which is 0-8.
A pair of 5-9 Lady Devils almost matched Curwensville\’s point total, junior Alycia Hippo pouring in 18 to secure all-tourney honors and freshman Amanda Grannas netting 14 . The duo also finished with 10 and 11 rebounds, respectively.
Coach Vic Gearhart\’s Lady Tide was turnover-free in the first quarter while building a 12-9 and might have taken a lead into halftime but for two giveaways that the Lady Devils cashed in for five points in the final minute to open a 28-22 advantage.
After closing to within one point, 33-32, after three quarters, the Lady Tide missed all 10 shots from the floor in the last eight minutes and was outscored 14-4 when the Lady Devils went to a fullcourt zone press..
\”We broke the press, but then we slowed down when we had the numbers, three on two or three on one, instead of continuing to bring the ball up court aggressively,\” Gearhart explained. \”And Holly didn\’t even get a look for us in that quarter.\”
Bellwood-Antis, 4-8 in former Moshannon Valley standout Allison Stodart\’s second season as head coach, outrebounded Curwensville 49-40, but Gearhart noted the Lady Devils grabbed 20 on the offensive end. The winners hit 14 of 48 shots, but only one of 18 from three-point range.
The Lady Tide shot 10-for-47 from the field and 16-for-21 at the foul line.
\”Foul shooting kept us in it,\” said Gearhart, who was encouraged by his team\’s season-low 12 turnovers.
\”We got a lot more out of them than we did the night before,\” he added.
Penns Manor (9-2) defeated Purchase Line (1-9) 67-30 in the championship game behind tourney Most Valuable Player Jessica Heidenthal\’s 18 points. Eric Holby and Autumn Mattis added 14 points apiece and also made the all-tourney team, as did Lady Dragon Heather Hudson.
Curwensville begins the new year with four games in six days and six in 10 days, including a Moshannon Valley League road game against Glendale Wednesday, an Allegheny Mountain League home game against Kane Thursday and an AML road game against South Division rival DuBois Central Saturday.
CURWENSVILLE — 36
Hannah Walls 0 1-3 1, Tess Bloom 0 9-12 9, Mindy Desmett 1 0-0 2, Alesia Bressler 3 2-2 8, Holly Fink 5 3-3 13, Jenessa Stiles 1 1-2 3, Jenae Stiles 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 10 16-21 36.
BELLWOOD-ANTIS — 47
Karissa Collier 0 0-0 0, Marisa Lombardo 0 0-0 0, Amanda Grannas 4 6-8 14, Victoria Lombardo 0 1-2 1, Ashley Lechner 1 0-0 3, Lauren Lender 3 0-0 6, Sam Damiano 0 0-0 0, Crixella Jones 1 1-2 3, Laura Cherry 1 0-0 2, Alycia Hippo 5 8-13 18. TOTALS: 15 16-25 47.
Three-Point Field Goals: Bellwood-Antis 1 (Lechner).
Score by Quarters:
Curwensville 12 10 10 4 – 36
Bellwood-Antis 9 19 5 14 – 47
