JOHNSONBURG – The Johnsonburg Area High School girls basketball team showed why it is one of the teams to be reckoned with in District 9 Tuesday night, taking care of the visiting Lady Tide of Curwensville, 48-33.
In a game that was much more competitive than the final score indicates, the Ramettes shutout the Lady Tide in the fourth quarter as they went into a stall, eat-the-clock type of offense.
A few possessions in the fourth for Johnsonburg extended well beyond a minute of playing time with constant movement and accurate passing to secure win number eight on the year against just three losses.
The loss for the Lady Tide was their fourth straight after opening the season with four wins.
Curwensville head coach Rusty McCracken said afterwards, “Johnsonburg did a real nice job with the stall in the fourth quarter that really kept the ball away from us. They are an experienced team, and it showed over the final eight minutes.”
The first half had the Ramettes hitting buckets at the buzzer of both the first and second quarters.
Kathern Polaski hit a three-pointer at the end of the first for Johnsonburg, and Rhianon Fowler made a lay-up as time expired at the end of the second.
Johnsonburg had a 20-9 first quarter lead with the Tide trimming it to 32-25 at the end of the first 16 minutes thanks to senior Katrina Seaburn and nine second quarter points.
Curwensville would cut the Ramettes margin to the three points, twice in the third frame, 34-31 and 36-33 on buckets by Rebecca Johnson, another Lady Tide senior.
Then, with Johnsonburg out in front 40-33 after the third quarter, the Ramettes pulled out the stall offense and worked it to perfection, scoring eight points while pitching a zero at Curwensville.
McCracken felt that overall his team played a decent game, saying, “The girls played very hard tonight after a tough loss to DuBois Central Catholic (55-49) last time out. We did some things we talked about tonight, and did them fairly well. We have a lot of the season yet to play, so we just need to stick together as a team and just bounce back.”
Seaburn had 12 to lead the Lady Tide, while Fowler picked up 14 for Johnsonburg, followed by Chelsea Benson with 10.
Johnsonburg also was victorious in the first game of the night, easily defeating the Lady Tide junior varsity by a score of 50-7.
The Lady Tide will return to the hardwood on Thursday night when it battles the Lady Owls at Harmony. The junior varsity game starts at 6 pm and the varsity contest will immediately follow.
In mid-December the Lady Tide easily defeated the Lady Owls, at Curwensville, 60-15.
CURWENSVILLE — 33
Heather Thorp 0 0-0 0, Rebecca Johnson 4 0-0 8, Ciara Strickland 3 2-2 9, Katrina Seaburn 4 3-4 11, Tiffany Carter 0 0-0 0, Abby Dugo 0 2-2 2, Tierra Shope 1 1-2 3, TOTALS – 12 8 -10 33.
JOHNSONBURG — 48
Rhianon Fowler 6 2-2 14, Brittney Watts 2 0-0 4, Chelsea Benson 3 4-4 10, Kassa Kojancic 4 0-2 8, Kathern Polaski 2 0-0 5, Mary Kate McAlee 1 0-0 2, McKenna Rowles 1 0-0 2, Ashley Imbrogno 1 0-0 3, TOTALS – 20 6-8 48.
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
CURWENSVILLE 9 16 8 0 33
JOHNSONBURG 20 12 8 8 48
THREE-POINTERS: Strickland, Polaski, Imbrogno
OFFICIALS: Chris Schneider, Gregg Dauber, Jerry Thornton
Lady Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/10 | MO VALLEY | 52 – 16 | 1 – 0 |
| 12/11 | BROCKWAY | 57 – 32 | 2 – 0 |
| 12/14 | @ Ridgway | 70 – 28 | 3 – 0 |
| 12/19 | HARMONY | 60 – 15 | 4 – 0 |
| 12/21 | @ Kane | ppd. | 4 – 0 |
| 12/27 | @ Clearfield | 52 – 60 | 4 – 1 |
| 01/02 | @ Kane | 31 – 59 | 4 – 2 |
| 01/04 | DUBOIS CENTRAL | 49 – 55 | 4 – 3 |
| 01/08 | @ Johnsonburg | 33 – 48 | 4 – 4 |
| 01/10 | @ Harmony |