Strickland had a game and career high 28 points to lead the Lady Tide to their sixth win of the season against 12 losses.
Time and time again when things got close it was Ciara Strickland to the rescue, who on the night had three three-pointers and 14 of the first 21 points for Curwensville.
The first quarter was sloppy for the most part, but the Lady Tide did manage to take an 8-2 margin into the second eight minutes thanks to two treys by Strickland.
Sheffield didn’t get a bucket until 29 seconds were remaining in the opening period when Lady Wolverine Julie Ely ended the drought for the northern visitors.
The Lady Tide would take a 21-13 halftime lead as Strickland picked up eight more points in the second period.
Another freshman, this one from Sheffield in the name of Jennifer Isenberg, kept the Lady Wolverines in the game with seven tallies in the second frame. Isenberg would pace the Sheffield offense on the night with 11.
The Lady Wolverines got to within two points of Curwensville, 26-24, in the third period when Abby Labesky knocked down a three-pointer with 3:30 left in the period. That would be the closest Sheffield would come the rest of the night.
Strickland, however, hit for nine points in the quarter to keep the Lady Tide out in front, going into the fourth and final period leading 33-24.
The Lady Tide went to the free throw line 26 times, making 11, while Sheffield attempted 14, making seven.
The Lady Wolverines dropped to 3-18 on the season under first year head coach Jeff Labesky.
Afterwards Lady Tide head coach Rusty McCracken spoke about the win, “We really believed we could win this game. We thought we had the better team and just needed to execute well like we talked about in practice.”
Then McCracken added, “We did throw in a few more twists last night in practice on offense to give some new looks to teams that may be scouting us.”
Finally McCracken talked about two of his players and his squad “It was a battle between two really good freshman (Ciara Strickland and Jennifer Isenberg) and Ciara may have taken it personally as she had her best game of her young career. And Seaburn (Katrina) does so many good things for us, on defense and on the boards. She just works very hard like all the girls on this team. I am proud of these girls and perhaps we can get a few more wins this year.”
Curwensville also won the junior varsity game over Sheffield by a score of 31-21.
The Lady Tide will be on the road Wednesday as they travel to play Moshannon Valley with junior varsity competition starting at 6 pm and the varsity to immediately follow.
SHEFFIELD – 34
Hanna Vile 1 4-6 6, Ashley Davidson 0 0-2 0, Abby Labesky 2 2-2 7, Julie Ely 4 0-0 8, Jennifer Isenberg 5 1-4 11, Sami Pollock 1 0-0 2, Hanna Fitch 0 0-0 0, Jade Moore 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 13 7-14 34.
CURWENSVILLE – 45
Savannah Strickland 2 0-2 5, Tierra Shope 0 0-4 0, Rebecca Johnson 1 0-0 2, Ciara Strickland 11 3-4 28, Katrina Seaburn 0 6-12 6, Heather Thorp 0 0-0 0, Tiara Bumbarger 0 2-4 2, Kealy Wassil 1 0-0 2, TOTALS – 15 11-26 45.
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
SHEFFIELD 2 11 11 10 34
CURWENSVILLE 8 13 12 12 45
THREE-POINTERS: Labesky, S. Strickland, C. Strickland 3
OFFICIALS: Bill Zupich, Cliff Miller
Lady Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/09 | GLENDALE | 36 – 54 | 0 – 1 |
| 12/13 | @ Brockway | 35 – 63 | 0 – 2 |
| 12/16 | RIDGWAY | 39 – 22 | 1 – 2 |
| 12/28 | CLEARFIELD | 38 – 57 | 1 – 3 |
| 01/03 | WEST BRANCH | 35 – 62 | 1 – 4 |
| 01/04 | KANE | 24 – 60 | 1 – 5 |
| 01/06 | @ DuBois Central | 25 – 67 | 1 – 6 |
| 01/09 | HARMONY | 56 – 18 | 2 – 6 |
| 01/10 | JOHNSONBURG | 22 – 61 | 2 – 7 |
| 01/13 | @ Glendale | ppd. | 2 – 7 |
| 01/18 | ELK CO. CATHOLIC | 25 – 57 | 2 – 8 |
| 01/20 | @ Harmony | 47 – 28 | 3 – 8 |
| 01/24 | @ Ridgway | 35 – 23 | 4 – 8 |
| 01/25 | @ Glendale | 32 – 50 | 4 – 9 |
| 01/27 | BROCKWAY | 47 – 41 | 5 – 9 |
| 01/30 | DUBOIS CENTRAL | 34 – 45 | 5 – 10 |
| 02/01 | @ West Branch | 28 – 70 | 5 – 11 |
| 02/03 | @ Johnsonburg | 31 – 54 | 5 – 12 |
| 02/07 | SHEFFIELD | 45 – 34 | 6 – 12 |
| 02/08 | @ Mo Valley | ||
| 02/10 | @ Kane | ||
| 02/13 | @ Clearfield | ||
| 02/15 | MO VALLEY |