BROCKWAY – With two of your top three scorers fouling out early in the fourth quarter and your leading point maker being held scoreless, you’re probably not going to win many games, or, actually, none at all.
That’s what the Curwensville Lady Tide faced Thursday night in Brockway, losing to the Lady Rovers, 57-31.
Seniors Rebecca Johnson and Katrina Seaburn both fouled out of the highly competitive and hotly contested game early in the fourth quarter. And in quick fashion.
Johnson left the game with 5:29 remaining, and six seconds later, at the 5:23 mark, Seaburn joined her teammate on the bench.
To make matters even worse for Curwensville, Ciara Strickland, the Lady Tide sophomore guard and leading scorer at 13.9 points per game, was held without a point.
With the loss the Lady Tide fell to 8-10 on the year and leaving the opportunity to advance to the Allegany Mountain League (AML) playoffs up in the air. A win against Brockway would have ensured Curwensville a spot in AML post season play. Now, too many variables come in to play to elaborate on, but the Tide’s hopes did get a bit dimmer.
The Lady Tide had beaten the Lady Rovers in the second game of the year back in mid-December, 57-32, in Curwensville.
Curwensville jumped out to a 9-8 margin after the first period was recorded, thanks to six points by Seaburn, only to watch its lead evaporate into a serious deficit in the second frame.
Taylor Cappetta hit a three-point shot, one of four for the junior guard, with 5:58 left in the half giving Brockway a 12-9 edge that went to six at the intermission, 23-17.
The Lady Tide hung in there in the third quarter, even though being outscored 13-11 and trailing by only eight going into the final eight minutes of action 38-26.
Ugly would be a good word for the Curwensville performance in that fourth period, as Brockway ended up with a huge, game-deciding advantage, 21-3, to win going away.
Credit ugly to the fact that Seaburn and Johnson fouled out in the fourth and that Strickland just never could find her stroke.
Seaburn paced the Lady Tide with 14 while the Lady Rovers had four players in double figures as Cappetta and Julianna Vokes each had 12 with Julianna Esposito scoring 11 and Laura Felczak adding 10.
39 fouls were whistled in the battle as Brockway was 13 of 22 from the free throw line and the Tide 11 of 20.
Afterwards a disappointed Lady Tide head coach Rusty McCracken said, “We had a bad, bad night to say the least. We didn’t shoot well. We didn’t take care of the ball. And we were obviously in foul trouble the whole game. The girls just never got on track with our shooting and we continually came up short on a lot of our shots.”
Then McCracken closed with, “It’s not that we can‘t overcome this because I feel we can. Although we aren’t real sure of the AML playoffs we are looking forward to getting into the District playoffs. That gives us something to look ahead to.”
Brockway was also victorious in the junior varsity game, beating the Lady Tide by a score of 40-34. Shauna Guy had 16 tallies for Curwensville.
The Lady Tide are scheduled to battle top ranked District 9 AA Kane Friday night in Curwensville, with the JV game starting at 6 pm at the varsity to immediately follow.
The Lady Wolves defeated the Lady Tide earlier this season, in Kane, 59-31.
Listen to Curwensville girls basketball Friday night on WOKW-FM, 102.9, starting at 7:15 pm with the pre-game show.
CURWENSVILLE — 31
Heather Thorp 0 0-0 0, Rebecca Johnson 3 0-0 8, Ciara Strickland 0 0-1 0, Katrina Seaburn 5 4-6 14, Tiffany Carter 1 2-4 4, Tierra Shope 0 2-4 2, Abby Dugo 0 3-5 3, Shauna Guy 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 9 11-20 31.
BROCKWAY — 57
Alex Wright 2 4-6 8, Taylor Cappetta 4 0-0 12, Julianna Esposito 4 3-7 11, Laura Felczak 5 0-0 10, Julianna Vokes 4 4-4 12, Ashley Moore 1 0-1 2, Adrianna Terwilliger 0 2-4 2, TOTALS – 20 13-22 57.
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
CURWENSVILLE 9 8 11 3 31
BROCKWAY 8 15 13 21 57
THREE-POINTERS: CURWENSVILLE – 2 Johnson 2 BROCKWAY – 4 Cappetta 4
OFFICIALS: Ted Truman, Paul Bojalad, Leo Simbeck
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 | 47 – 50 | 5 – 7 |
| 01/22 | RIDGWAY | 58 – 29 | 6 – 7 |
| 01/25 | @ Brockway | ppd. | 6 – 7 |
| 01/28 | @ DuBois Central | ppd. | 6 – 7 |
| 02/01 | JOHNSONBURG | 35 – 74 | 6 – 8 |
| 02/02 | @ DuBois Central | 34 – 37 | 6 – 9 |
| 02/04 | GLENDALE | 46 – 39 | 7 – 9 |
| 02/05 | @ Sheffield | 56 – 38 | 8 – 9 |
| 02/07 | @ Brockway | 31 – 57 | 8 – 10 |
| 02/08 | KANE | ||
| 02/11 | @ Mo Valley | ||
| 02/13 | @ West Branch | ||
| 02/14 | CLEARFIELD |