CURWENSVILLE – The Curwensville Area High School girls basketball team seemed poised to break into the win column when Jenessa Stiles swished one-handers from the left side two minutes apart for a 34-33 lead against Ridgway with 2:41 remaining.
However, the Lady Tide didn\’t score again until Alesia Bressler drove the right side of the lane to bank in a runner with 22 seconds left, and the Lady Elkers had an important Allegheny Mountain League South Division victory in hand by then.
The Patton Hall visitors rode Bekka Leitzel\’s foul shooting to an 11-2 run in the final 2:13 that kept them tied atop the AML-South with Brockway, which defeated DuBois Central Christian 30-20 Tuesday.
The junior guard put Ridgway (4-8) ahead to stay, 34-33, by calmly canning two free throws for the Lady Elkers\’ first points in nearly three minutes.
Kathy Shirey made one foul shot with 1:08 to go, and the Lady Elkers made it a two-possession game 10 seconds later when Olivia Horning got behind the Lady Tide defense on a mid-court in-bounds play.
Then, Leitzel buried six more foul shots in 21 seconds to cap a 19-point performance.
\”She played a very good game,\” Curwensville coach Vic Gearhart said. \”They did what they had to do to win.
\”I thought we matched up well, and this was an opportunity to get that first win.\”
Instead, the Lady Tide fell to 0-10 with its fourth AML-South loss, though hanging close most of the way.
The Lady Tide trailed 13-12 after one period thanks to a pair of treys by Tess Bloom and four points by Hannah Walls and led 18-17 after the low-scoring second quarter.
Bloom opened the second half with her third bonus field goal to give Curwensville its biggest lead, 21-17.
After the score was knotted at 21, 23 and 25, Ridgway gained a 29-27 advantage going to the fourth quarter and then answered the Lady Tide\’s late challenge.
Andrea Redmond pulled down 12 rebounds as the Lady Elkers won the battle under the boards 43-24.
Bloom and Bressler scored 13 and 10 points, respectively, for the Lady Tide, which made 14 of 56 shots for 25 percent.
\”I just thought we didn\’t have good shot selection, and we shot too early on numerous occasions,\” Gearhart said.
\”I\’m just disappointed. It wasn\’t a lack of effort. It was a lack of execution.
\”We are not spacing the floor right. Defensively, we\’re not moving where we should be.\”
The Lady Tide will host Moshannon Valley Wednesday night and travel to Brockway Friday.
Ridgway won the junior varsity game 38-29 behind 17 points from Erica Thorwart and 12 from Bryton Dybowski. Courtney Bachelier and Hannah Bressler tallied nine apiece for Curwensville.
RIDGWAY — 43
Jordan Cowan 3 0-3 6, Olivia Horning 2 0-0 4, Bekka Leitzel 4 10-10 19, Andrea Redmond 2 1-2 5, Kathy Shirey 1 1-2 3, Emily Mitchell 3 0-0 6, Lacey Gosnell 0 0-2 0, Danae Gonzalez 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 15 12-19 43.
CURWENSVILLE — 35
Hannah Walls 4 0-0 8, Tess Bloom 4 2-2 13, Alesia Bressler 4 2-2 10, Jenessa Stiles 2 0-0 4, Taylor Bumbarger 0 0-2 0, Savannah Strickland 0 0-0 0, Shayla Buzard 0 0-0 0, Jenae Stiles 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 14 4-6 35.
Three-Point Field Goals: Ridgway 1 (Leitzel); Curwensville 3 (Bloom 3).
Score by Quarters:
Ridgway 13 4 12 14 – 43
Curwensville 12 6 9 8 – 35
Officials: Rich Gormont and Bill Zupich.
