Lady Tide Beaten by West Branch on “Think Pink” Night 44-36

It was the third annual “Think Pink” night at Patton Hall with all the proceeds that were raised going to local cancer causes in an event where there were no losers.

On the court though, it was West Branch picking up win number six on the year in defeating the Lady Tide in a Moshannon Valley League game, 44-36. The Lady Warriors, under second year head coach Dan Socash are now 6-7 on the 2010-11 campaign.

Curwensville started out with a 5-0 lead before West Branch put points on the board in the first eight minutes.

The Lady Tide would take a 9-6 edge into the second period when the offense went as cold as the night air.

After taking a quick 11-6 lead to start the second frame Curwensville wouldn’t score again until 5:54 was left in the third quarter when Katie Wriglesworth hit a bucket to cut the now leading Warrior margin to 18-13. A lead West Branch would stretch to 21-13 with 3:51 to go in the third.

Curwensville wouldn’t go away in the frigid night air however as it battled back to make it 26-23 in favor of the Lady Warriors after three quarters were complete.

The lead went back to the Tide with 7:20 remaining in the game when sophomore Katrina Seaburn connected on two free throws putting the hosts out in front 27-26. It would be the last time Curwensville would go ahead as the Warriors won the fourth quarter 18-13 in what was basically a free throw shooting contest down the stretch.

 35 free throws were attempted in the final eight minutes with the Tide making 7 of 14 while West Branch was just 8 of 21.

On the night a total off 54 shots from the charity stripe were taken. Curwensville was 11-25 and West Branch 12-29.

Leading West Branch in scoring was senior Roni Crowell with 13 and Janene Coudriet adding nine. Crowell had three treys on the evening.

Curwensville was paced by junior Savannah Strickland with 13, six coming in the fourth period. Taylor Bumbarger helped out with seven and Katrina Seaburn tossed in six.

Rusty McCracken, Lady Tide head coach, said “The lack of offense throughout the second quarter into the third really hurt our chances. And then things slipped away from us in the fourth quarter. They hit some big free throws and we didn’t make enough of ours.”

Then McCracken added, “Defensively I thought we played pretty well tonight doing some good things at times. We, however, certainly need to work on our offense, which is obvious.”

 The Lady Warriors also won the junior varsity game by a score of 34-14 over Curwensville. The Lady Tide youngsters are 5-7 on the year.

Curwensville (2-10), returns to the hardwood on Tuesday night, once again at home, when they play the Ridgway Lady Elkers with the junior varsity game starting at 6 pm and the varsity tilt to immediately follow.

The Lady Tide beat Ridgway in December, on the road, 40-31, to gain victory number one on the year.

The “Think Pink” night was a huge success as $1,200 was raised from various fund raising activities. The Nathaniel Yingling Cancer Center of Clearfield and the Hahne Regional Cancer Center of DuBois will each receive $600 from the 3rd Annual “Think Pink” Night.

WEST BRANCH – 44

Roni Crowell 4 2-2 13, Mekayla Ahlberg 1 2-9 5, Melesha Ahlberg 0 6-10 6, Mindy Kolesar 1 0-0 2, Janene Coudriet 4 1-5 9, Brianna Nye 3 0-1 8, Christie Sabol 0 1-2 1, TOTALS – 13 12-19 44

CURWENSVILLE – 36

Savannah Strickland 6 0-0 13, Taylor Bumbarger 2 1-4 7, Courtney Bachelier 0 0- 0, Katrina Seaburn 0 6-11 6, Katie Wriglesworth 2 0-2 4, Tierra Shope 0 1-4 1, Rebecca Johnson 0 1-2 1, Kealy Wassil 1 2-2 4, Tiara Bumbarger 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 11 11-25 36

SCORE BY QUARTERS

WEST BRANCH 6 12 8 18 44

CURWENSVILLE 9 2 12 13 36

THREE-POINTERS: WEST BRANCH – 6 – Crowell 3, Nye 2, Mekayla Ahlberg

CURWENSVILLE – 3 – Taylor Bumbarger 2, Strickland

OFFICIALS: Lee Martell and Brian Smeal