CURWENSVILLE – The Curwensville Lady Tide girls basketball team opened defense of its Moshannon Valley League title with a 61-45 win over the visiting Moshannon Valley Damsels Monday night on the Tide’s home floor.
Lady Tide senior Ciara Strickland had a monstrous and historic night, scoring 39 points, tying a Curwensville girls single game record and also picking up the 1,000th point in her career. The 39 points on the evening tied former Lady Tide Dawna (Coons) Wheeler for the all-time single game record.
Strickland scored the games first point, a free throw, with only four seconds into the game, giving her the magic number of 1,000.
The game didn’t start out that easy for the Lady Tide as the first quarter went back and forth, with Curwensville holding a 10-9 edge after one.
Moshannon Valley owned the first half of the second period, taking an 18-14 lead with 3:58 left until the half.
Then the Tide took control, going on a 17-0 that stretched into the early part of the third period that had Curwensville leading 31-18.
Hannah Kitko ended the drought for Moshannon Valley with a bucket at the 5:45 mark of the third eight minutes to stop the Tide run. Kitko led all Damsels with 20 points.
Curwensville took an eight point margin, 41-33, into the final frame and withstood a few rallies by Moshannon Valley before coming away with the opening night win.
Curwensville head coach Rusty McCracken said afterwards, “I was a little concerned that Mo Valley had already played two games and we had yet to play. It took us awhile to get into the flow. They (Moshannon Valley) didn’t quit and they sure gave us a good effort.”
In closing, McCracken commented, “We certainly have some thing to work on to get better.”
Tide sophomore Hannah Dixon also had double figures on the night with 10 as did Emily Smith for the Damsels.
Moshannon Valley, now 0-3 after playing its third game in four nights, was just 12 of 28 from the free throw line.
Curwensville was 10 for 12 from the charity stripe with Strickland a perfect eight for eight.
The Damsels won the junior varsity contest 37-33.
Curwensville is home again Tuesday night, entertaining the Lady Rovers of Brockway, with the JV game starting at 6 pm and the varsity to immediately follow.
MOSHANNON VALLEY – 45
Emily Kolesar 1 2-2 4, Emily Smith 3 3-7 10, Samantha Matchock 0 0-0 0, Ally Kronenwetter 3 0-2 6, Hannah Kitko 6 6-10 20, Haley Stodart 2 1-7 5, Reese Harlow 0 0-0 0, Abby Butler 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 15 12-28 45
CURWENSVILLE -61
Ciara Strickland 15 8-8 39, Heather Thorp 1 2-2 4, Shauna Guy 2 0-0 4, Hannah Dixon 5 0-1 10, Christine Limbert 1 0-1 2, Kristina McCracken 0 0-0 0, Kayli Sedgwick 1 0-0 2, TOTALS – 25 10-12 61
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
MOSHANNON VALLEY 9 9 15 12 45
CURWENSVILLE 10 17 14 20 61
THREE-POINTERS: Strickland, Sedgwick, Kitko 2, Smith
OFFICIALS: Bill Zupich, Rich Gormont
Lady Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/08 | MO VALLEY | 61 – 45 | 1 – 0 |
| 12/09 | BROCKWAY | ||
| 12/12 | @ Ridgway | ||
| 12/19 | @ Kane | ||
| 12/29 | @ Clearfield | ||
| 01/02 | DUBOIS CENTRAL | ||
| 01/05 | WEST BRANCH | ||
| 01/06 | @ Johnsonburg | ||
| 01/09 | @ Harmony | ||
| 01/13 | @ Elk County Catholic | ||
| 01/15 | @ Mo Valley | ||
| 01/20 | RIDGWAY | ||
| 01/23 | @ Brockway | ||
| 01/26 | @ DuBois Central | ||
| 01/28 | GLENDALE | ||
| 01/30 | JOHNSONBURG | ||
| 02/03 | @ Sheffield | ||
| 02/04 | @ Glendale | ||
| 02/06 | KANE | ||
| 02/09 | HARMONY | ||
| 02/11 | @ West Branch | ||
| 02/13 | CLEARFIELD |