CURWENSVILLE – Apparently the road to the District 9 AA girls basketball championship goes through Kane for the Curwensville Lady Tide.
This year’s quarterfinals will be on Wednesday night with Curwensville and Kane traveling to St. Marys Area High School for a 6 pm tip-off.
The number one seed last year, Kane beat the Lady Tide in the first round, 46-32.
This year Curwensville has the higher seed, number two, with a 15-7 record; while Kane is the seven seed with a mark of 12-12.
Lady Tide Head Coach Rusty McCracken spoke about his squad going into the playoffs, “As a team we are happy to be a part of the district playoffs for the second year in a row. It is ironic that we get to play Kane, also for the second year in a row, to open the district play.”
The two squads tangled twice this past season with the Lady Wolves winning both times, December 20 at Curwensville, 49-38 and February 7 at Kane, 47-36.
The Lady Wolves lost the Alleghany Mountain League (AML) title game to Elk County Catholic on Saturday, 57-31, after defeating DuBois Central Catholic in the AML semifinals on Friday night, 31-28.
McCracken talked about those two contests, “We want to try to put together a complete game against them this time. The first game we had a bad first half against the Lady Wolves, and the second game we played terrible in the second half. I think if we can keep our focus for four quarters, we have a good shot at them, but they (Kane) have to be very confident going in having beaten us twice already.”
The Lady Tide are led on the offensive end of the floor by junior Ciara Strickland with 426 points and a 19.4 per game average. Strickland needs 17 to reach 1,000 points for her career.
The all-time leading Lady Tide scorer is Kelly Penvose who graduated in 2005 with 1,204 points. Deb Spackman was the first Curwensville girl to score over 1,000, leaving in 1986 with 1,006 tallies.
Senior Tierra Shope totaled 173 points on the season for a 7.9 per game average while freshman Hannah Dixon hit the nets for 146 and a 6.6 average.
The three point threat for the Lady Tide is Strickland, who on the year made 23 treys.
Curwensville averages 47.3 points per game and gives up 36.9 for a plus 10.4 differental on the 2013-14 campaign.
Junior Taylor Morgan leads Kane in scoring this year with an 11.0 per game average.
Coach McCracken closed, commenting, “I’m so proud of the girls, and this a feather in their cap to be coming in as the number two seed. We have been playing good basketball, and half the job is getting into the playoffs. Once you are there, anything can happen. All the teams seem to have outstanding players to focus on, and we’re no exception to that. But at this time of the season, it can all come down to who is willing to step up and make the difference. I know we’re ready to play hard and I think we can turn in an effort that will make our school district proud of its basketball team.”
Listen to the Curwensville-Kane girls District 9 AA playoff game Wednesday, on WOKW-FM, 102.9, starting with the pre-game show at 5:45 pm.
DISTRICT 9 GIRLS AA QUARTERFINALS
Karns City (1), 21-1 vs. Brookville (8), 8-14.………Brookville is the defending AA champion
Curwensville (2), 15-7 vs. Kane (7), 12-12
Clarion-Limestone (3), 14-8 vs. Cranberry (6), 13-9
Moniteau (4), 14-8 vs. Redbank Valley (5), 14-8
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 | 60 – 23 | 4 – 0 |
| 12/20 | KANE | 38 – 49 | 4 – 1 |
| 12/27 | CLEARFIELD | 50 – 46 ot | 5 – 1 |
| 01/03 | @ DuBois Central | 34 – 55 | 5 – 2 |
| 01/06 | @ West Branch | ppd. | 5 – 2 |
| 01/07 | JOHNSONBURG | ppd. | 5 – 2 |
| 01/10 | MO VALLEY | 45 – 30 | 6 – 2 |
| 01/13 | HARMONY | 59 – 21 | 7 – 2 |
| 01/15 | ELK COUNTY | 46 – 51 | 7 – 3 |
| 01/17 | JOHNSONBURG | 43 – 47 | 7 – 4 |
| 01/20 | @ Glendale | 57 – 39 | 8 – 4 |
| 01/21 | @ Ridgway | 52 – 24 | 9 – 4 |
| 01/24 | BROCKWAY | 37 – 46 | 9 – 5 |
| 01/27 | DUBOIS CENTRAL | 27 – 34 | 9 – 6 |
| 01/29 | @ West Branch | ppd. | 9 – 6 |
| 01/30 | @ West Branch | 53 – 37 | 10 – 6 |
| 01/31 | @ Johnsonburg | 51 – 42 | 11 – 6 |
| 02/03 | GLENDALE | 63 – 28 | 12 – 6 |
| 02/04 | SHEFFIELD | 55 – 36 | 13 – 6 |
| 02/07 | @ Kane | 36 – 47 | 13 – 7 |
| 02/10 | @ Clearfield | 47 – 42 | 14 – 7 |
| 02/12 | WEST BRANCH | 49 – 26 | 15 – 7 |
| D9 AA Playoffs | |||
| 02/19 | vs. Kane (@ St. Marys) |