CURWENSVILLE – The West Branch Lady Warrior girls basketball team used the second and third quarters to springboard to a convincing 51-30 victory over Curwensville Friday night on the home court of the Lady Tide.
Leading by two points after the first eight minutes, 15-13, West Branch outscored Curwensville 30-10 through the middle two frames and go on its way to take over sole possession of first place in the Moshannon Valley League (MVL) with a 4-0 mark.
The Lady Tide, who never led in the contest, did make it interesting in the first period, and at one point had the game tied at 11-11 with 2:31 left on the clock.
Down 15-11, Curwensville junior Tierra Shope hit a bucket with just two seconds left in the first period cutting the Warrior margin to only two after one stanza. Tide sophomore Ciara Strickland had seven first quarter points.
Then came the next 16 minutes.
West Branch took command with a 19-6 second frame as Melesha Ahlberg and Janene Couteret, both seniors, scored seven each to fuel the Lady Warrior offense. The Lady Tide only had one field goal in the second eight minutes on a basket by Rebecca Johnson, with just under seven minutes left until intermission.
Another seven points by Ahlberg, this time in the third quarter, had the Warriors cruising after three, 45-23, and on their way to victory number seven on the year with just four losses.
Lady Tide coach Rusty McCracken said after the game, “It is not always what the other team does to us, but sometimes we tend to do things that really hurt us. We need to take better angles in our passing game for one thing. And another is the fact that tonight West Branch just plain out hustled us. They were quick in the transition game, getting a lot of break aways and back door plays especially off of our turnovers.”
Strickland led the Lady Tide with 14 points, while Couteret, 17, and Ahlberg, 15, were tops for the Lady Warriors.
McCracken finished the night off saying, “We still have a half of season left to play and continue to look for improvement and just keep moving on. Hopefully down the road, as we start to play better, we can put some pressure on other teams.“
The Lady Warriors also won the junior varsity game, 36-19, beating the young Lady Tide.
The Lady Tide, now under .500 at 5-6, play another Moshannon Valley League game on Monday as they travel to Flinton to battle with the Lady Vikings of Glendale. Curwensville stands at 3-1 and in second place in the MVL. JV action begins at 6 pm with the varsity game to immediately follow.
WEST BRANCH — 51
Madison McCracken 1 0-0 2, Melesha Ahlberg 6 2-4 15, Janene Couteret 8 1-3 17, Christie Sabol 1 0-0 2, Brianne Nye 2 0-0 6, Taylor Pedmo 0 0-0 0, Missy Croyle 1 1-1 3, Nichole Miller 2 0-0 4, Taylor Kolesar 1 0-2 2, Katie Trude 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 22 4-12 51.
CURWENSVILLE — 30
Heather Thorp 0 2-2 2, Rebecca Johnson 1 1-2 3, Ciara Strickland 6 1-2 14, Katrina Seaburn 3 2-2 8, Tierra Shope 1 1-2 3, Tiffany Carter 0 0-0 0, Kealy Wassil 0 0-0 0, Abby Dugo 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 11 7-10 30.
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
WEST BRANCH 15 19 11 6 51
CURWENSVILLE 13 6 4 7 30
THREE-POINTERS: WEST BRANCH -3 Nye 2, Ahlberg CURWENSVILLE -1 Strickland
OFFICIALS: David Wright, Sarah Fye
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 | 66 – 28 | 5 – 4 |
| 01/16 | @ Elk County | 38 – 53 | 5 – 5 |
| 01/18 | WEST BRANCH | 30 – 51 | 5 – 6 |
| 01/21 | @ Glendale |
