CURWENSVILLE — The undefeated Curwensville Area High School girls basketball team took care of business against winless Ridgway for a dominating 57-20 Allegheny Mountain League South Division win on the Patton Hall hardwood Friday night.
Ciara Strickland tossed in 24 points, all in the first three quarters, while Hannah Dixon and Heather Thorp chimed in with 11 and nine respectively, as the Lady Tide padded their record to 2-0 in the AML-South and 3-0 overall.
Tight man-to-man defense was a key to many easy baskets for Curwensville, which forced more than three dozen turnovers, the bulk of them outright steals with most of the players getting into the act.
“That’s what we were hoping for,” Lady Tide coach Rusty McCracken said. “We were looking to transition from defense to offense with steals and good passing down court.
“We kind of set a little goal for ourselves, trying to keep people under 35 points. “So far, we’ve been able to do that.
“The girls are seeing the ball well and helping each other out well. That is a big part of what we have to do as far as defense is concerned.”
The Golden Tide held the Lady Elkers scoreless for the first 5:21, scoring 13 points while the visitors misfired on seven shots and had a like number of turnovers.
Strickland set the tone with five points off two steals plus a putback. Later, she closed out the first quarter with a three-pointer that made it a 21-3 runaway.
In the second period, Strickland added three more buckets and dished the ball to Dixon and Thorp on runouts as Curwensville widened the gap to 35-9.
The Golden Tide led 44-11 midway through the third period and had all of their season-high points in the hopper with 4:23 left in the game.
Curwensville made 25 field goals for just under 40 percent and outrebounded Ridgway 41-31 with Kealy Wassil pulling down eight and Thorp hustling for six.
“We’re never really the tallest team on the court on any given night, so rebounding is key,” McCracken said. “If we can keep it close, we feel like we have a chance to win.
“It was a good team effort, really, because no matter who went out on the court, everybody contributed in some way.”
McCracken acknowledged the win came against a program that has fallen on hard times, for the Lady Elkers (0-3) are mired in a 47-game losing streak.
“We know they’ve been struggling, but that’s the most points they’ve scored all year and nobody has scored what we did.
“We did what we had to do and got the job done. But we want to have that effort against teams like Kane and Johnsonburg and Elk County Catholic, so, hopefully, this will be a stepping stone.”
Ridgway’s jayvees were victorious, 34-12.
Curwensville begins Moshannon Valley League play Monday against Harmony at Westover.
RIDGWAY — 20
Kiersten Hinton 4 1-1 9, Jenni Thomas 0 0-0 0, Ange DeAngelo 0 1-4 1, Jessica Kifer 2 0-0 4, Gabrielle Barclay 1 0-0 2, Hannah Park 0 0-0 0, Jilly Mercer 0 0-0 0, Danni Shirey 2 0-0 4, Elizabeth Kemuk 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 9 2-5 20.
CURWENSVILLE — 57
Heather Thorp 4 1-1 0, Tierra Shope 1 1-2 3, Ciara Strickland 11 1-1 24, Abby Dugo 2 0-0 4, Kealy Wassil 3 0-0 6, Hannah Dixon 5 1-1 11, Shauna Guy 0 0-2 0, Christine Limbert 0 0-0 0, Kayli Sedgwick 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 26 4-7 57.
Three-Point Field Goal – Curwensville 1 (Strickland).
Score by Quarters
Ridgway 3 6 5 6 – 20
Curwensville 21 14 14 8 – 57
Officials – Rob Murphy and Bill Overly.
Lady Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/09 | @ Mo Valley | 36 – 35 | 1 – 0 |
| 12/10 | @ Brockway | 46 – 35 | 2 – 0 |
| 12/13 | RIDGWAY | 57 – 20 | 3 – 0 |
| 12/16 | @ Harmony | ||
| 12/20 | KANE | ||
| 12/27 | CLEARFIELD | ||
| 01/03 | @ DuBois Central | ||
| 01/06 | @ West Branch | ||
| 01/07 | JOHNSONBURG | ||
| 01/10 | MO VALLEY | ||
| 01/13 | HARMONY | ||
| 01/15 | ELK COUNTY | ||
| 01/20 | @ Glendale | ||
| 01/21 | @ Ridgway | ||
| 01/24 | BROCKWAY | ||
| 01/27 | DUBOIS CENTRAL | ||
| 01/31 | @ Johnsonburg | ||
| 02/03 | GLENDALE | ||
| 02/04 | SHEFFIELD | ||
| 02/07 | @ Kane | ||
| 02/10 | @ Clearfield | ||
| 02/12 | WEST BRANCH |