AMESVILLE – The Curwensville Lady Tide basketball team opened the 2009-10 campaign under first year head coach Rusty McCracken against the Moshannon Valley Damsels Friday night. Although the Curwensville squad came up on the short end, 38-24, they showed definite improvement from the first half to the second.
With a 16-0 run between the first and second quarters the Damsels took a commanding 25-5 bulge into halftime and were well on their way to an easy opening night trouncing. The only problem was the Lady Tide would not go away that easily in the final sixteen minutes.
Even in defeat coach McCracken saw a positive, “I was pleased with how we finished. The fourth quarter definitely is something we can build upon. We just have to speed up our game.” Then the first year mentor added, “ The girls may think too much about making mistakes at times.”
The two sides only could manage two points each in the third quarter as Moshannon Valley maintained a 20 point lead after three frames, 27-7.
It was the fourth quarter that saw the Lady Tide come alive as they outscored their hosts 17-11 to put some excitement into the final eight minutes.
Curwensville actually outscored Moshannon Valley in the second half by a 19-13 count.
Senior guard Tess Bloom of Curwensville dumped in 10 fourth quarter points to lead the Tide charge. Bloom finished the contest with a game high 15.
McCracken summed up the evening this way, “The first three quarters didn’t turn out how I obviously wanted it to. I was hoping we would be more competitive for the whole game, not just the fourth quarter.”
The Damsels, under head coach Aaron Mills in his third season at the helm, were paced by Maria Charney with 11, Vanessa Rowley with nine and seven from Taylor Murarik.
In JV action Mo Valley bounced the Lady Tide 32-21.
Curwensville will take to the road again on Tuesday as they battle the Lady Rovers in Brockway in a Allegheny Mountain League (AML) contest. Listen to Lady Tide basketball on WOKW-FM, 102.9, starting at 7:15 pm.
CURWENSVILLE – 24 Tess Bloom 5 4-6 15, Shayla Buzard 0 0-0 0, Taylor Bumbarger 2 0-0 4, Katie Wriglesworth 0 0-0 0, Savannah Strickland 2 0-0 4, Lindsay Barrett 0 0-0 0, Courtney Bachelier 0 1-2 1, Paige McCracken 0 0-0 0, Kate Norris 0 0-0 0, Katrina Seaburn 0 0-0 0. TOTALS – 9 5-10 24
MOSHANNON VALLEY – 38 Taylor Murarik 3 1-3 7, Vanessa Rowley 3 2-6 9, Claire Harlow 2 1-2 5, Maria Charney 5 1-2 11, Kelsey Beirlair 0 0-0 0, Chelsea Neff 0 0-0 0, Brianna Shawver 1 0-0 2, Ruthie Hutton 1 0-0 2, Sara Harris 0 0-0 0, Amanda Howe 1 0-0 2. TOTALS – 16 5-13 38
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
CURWENSVILLE 2 3 2 17 24
MOSHANNON VALLEY 10 15 2 11 38
THREE-POINTERS – Bloom, Rowley.