CURWENSVILLE – It’s been a long, long time since a Curwensville Area High School girls basketball team last defeated a Moshannon Valley League rival, or posted back-to-back wins, or sported a .500 record.
The 2006-07 season, to be exact, when the Lady Tide rolled through the MVL schedule undefeated and reached the District 9 Class AA finals to qualify for the first PIAA Tournament game in the program’s history.
Since then, Curwensville teams have really struggled, notching just four wins in three seasons.
The 2010-11 Lady Tide is striving to be much more competitive and was able to cross three goals of its to-do list Monday night by surging to a 19-4 lead early in the second quarter and staving off Moshannon Valley’s late comeback for a 35-28 victory in Patton Hall.
“Hopefully, they’re going to get excited about that, cause it’s a lot more fun to win than it is to be on the other side,” coach Rusty McCracken said after the Lady Tide snapped a 25-game MVL losing streak and balanced its record at 2-2. “That’s a big thing. We want to establish ourselves locally, and we want to be competitive in District 9.
“I think we have a chance to do that a little bit this year.”
Curwensville’s best quarter of the season was decisive.
All five starters got into the scoring act as the Lady Tide made its first six shots, finished 7-for-13 and turned the ball over only three times to lead 15-4 at the first rest stop.
Taylor Bumbarger, who paced the hosts with a season-high 15 points, set the tone with a lay-up off a nice pass from Katie Wriglesworth and a long three-pointer from out front, and Savannah Strickland also had two baskets in the early run.
McCracken wasn’t sure Bumbarger would be in the lineup after she sprained an ankle during Saturday’s practice.
“She worked it out (Sunday) at home,” McCracken said. “She’s just so tough.
“We depend on her a lot, and not just for scoring. When she’s not in there we don’t get as many rebounds. And she directs the offense pretty well.”
Bumbarger was a factor under the defensive boards, teaming with Katrina Seaburn and Wriglesworth to preventing the taller Damsels from getting any second chance points. They didn’t have big rebound numbers but prevented the Damsels from getting any easy shots by forcing jump balls or knocking the ball out of play.
“Katie and Katrina are just getting better every day,” McCracken said. “They’re seeing the court a little better. They’re rotating on defense. And they stayed out of foul trouble tonight. And that was a big key for us, too.”
The Lady Tide did send the Damsels to the line for 19 free throws, but they hit only 42 percent.
Five of their misses came in the second quarter, costing them an opportunity inch closer than 24-13 at intermission.
Neither team could get untracked in the third quarter, which ended with the Lady Tide ahead 28-18. Mo Valley (0-4) was 1-for-10 with six turnovers while Curwensville was just a bit better at 2-for 11 with five turnovers.
“That’s always been our thing,” McCracken said. “I’ve said before, if we didn’t have to go to halftime, we’d stay out and play.
“For some reason, we don’t play well in the third quarter, but we didn’t lose anything. We played pretty even and I can live with that, especially with an 11-point lead at halftime.”
After Bumbarger and Chelsea Neff traded three-pointers to start the final period, Bumbarger put Curwensville up 33-21 with a jumper near the base line.
Laura Harris countered with her second trey to trigger a seven-point run by Mo Valley that made it interesting at 33-28 with 1:08 left.
However, Bachelier iced it for the Lady Tide by corralling an in-bounds pass along the right sideline and wheeling through traffic for a short jumper with 25 seconds left and then coming up with a steal as the Damsels crossed mid-court.
“Defensively, all night, we did good things,” McCracken said. “The girls played hard, and we got offense out of a lot of people.
“It’s nice to get that team effort.”
The Lady Tide is off until making the short trip downriver to play Clearfield in a non-league holiday attraction Dec. 28.
In the prelim, Tayia Swoope tallied 11 points and Amanda Howe added nine to lead Moshannon Valley’s jayvees to a 29-10 win.
Moshannon Valley League Standings – Glendale 2-0, Curwensville 1-1, West Branch 1-1, Moshannon Valley 0-1, Harmony 0-1.
MOSHANNON VALLEY — 28
Ruthie Hutton 0 1-3 1, Kelsey Bierlair 0 0-0 0, Chelsea Neff 1 3-4 6, Claire Harlow 2 3-7 7, Maria Charney 0 1-2 1, Sara Harris 0 0-00, Brieanna Shawver 1 0-3 3, Amanda Howe 0 0-0 0; Laura Harris 2 0-0 6, Katelin Thompson 0 0-0 0, Mikayla Shawver 2 0-0 4. TOTALS: 8 8-19 28.
CURWENSVILLE — 35
Savannah Strickland 3 0-0 6, Courtney Bachelier 2 0-0 4, Taylor Bumbarger 6 1-2 15, Katrina Seaburn 2 0-0 4, Katie Wriglesworth 1 0-0 2, Becca Johnson 1 0-0 2, Brittany Carter 1 0-0 2, Kate Norris 0 0-0 0, Paige McCracken 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 16 1-2 35.
Three-Point Field Goals: Moshannon Valley 4 (Neff, B. Shawver, L. Harris 2); Curwensville 2 (Bumbarger 2).
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Moshannon Valley 4 9 5 10 – 28
Curwensville 15 9 4 7 – 35
Officials – Lee Martell and Marvin Martell.
