CURWENSVILLE – To those who have always said that free throws are so much more important in the second half, and even later in the game, they should ask Curwensville girls basketball head coach Rusty McCracken his thoughts on that philosophy.
The Lady Tide fell victim to poor free throw shooting Tuesday night, losing to Ridgway, 49-48, in a game that went down to the final buzzer on Curwensville’s home floor.
The Tide defeated Ridgway in December, 42-36, on the Lady Elkers’ home court
Hitting on just eight of 18 in the first half, and then seven of 14 in the second 16 minutes was without a doubt critical in the loss to the Lady Elkers. Just 15 of 32 from the charity stripe.
And McCracken was short with his assessment of the cold night at the line, saying, “Foul shots are always critical. You have got to get them. There is no excuse for us missing that many free throws.”
The Lady Tide came in shooting 59% from the line as a team. On Tuesday that percentage dipped to 47%.
The game also featured senior Ciara Strickland scoring 30 points for the Lady Tide and pulling to within one point of Rod Kirby’s all-time school record of 1,271.
Strickland, with 20 second half points, literally strapped her squad to her back and did all she could do to help the Tide pull out the win, who were also playing without sophomore Hannah Dixon once again and her 11.3 points per game average.
Dixon is still recovering from an ankle injury that happened in the game against Elk County Catholic a week ago Tuesday.
Curwensville jumped out to an early 9-2 lead over Ridgway midway through the first frame, but a Lady Elker rally at the end of the period had the Lady Tide only up by one, 11-10, heading in to the second period.
With the Elkers outscoring the Lady Tide in the second eight minutes 13-7, it put the visitors ahead at the halftime break 23-18. It was a lead Ridgway would hold on to until 18 seconds were remaining in the game.
The Tide, with Strickland scoring 11, won the third period 15-14 to pull to within four after three frames at 37-33.
Sophomore Christine Limbert of Curwensville also did her part to keep the Lady Tide within striking distance with another monster night on the boards. Without any official stats it would be safe to say Limbert grabbed over 15 rebounds.
The Lady Tide got to within two points a couple of times in the final period, 37-35 and 39-37, before knotting the game at 47-47 on a Strickland basket with 27.8 seconds remaining.
Heather Thorp, the scrappy Lady Tide senior point guard, hit one of two from the line with 18 seconds left to give Curwensville its first lead since the end of the first quarter at 48-47.
The lead didn’t last long however, as Lady Elker Hannah Park scored with only nine ticks left on the clock which gave Ridgway the lead and the win at 49-48.
The Lady Elkers had four starters score in double figures, Park with 15 and Keirsten Hinton, Emily Fullem and Jessica Kifer each had 10 as Ridgway improved to 4-11 on the year.
Curwensville did get a couple of shots at the end, but both fell short.
McCracken said, “We, of course, miss Hannah Dixon), but that’s no excuse. You have to play the hand dealt to you and we certainly had our opportunities to put the game away, even in the first half. We didn’t take care of the ball very well though in the first half causing us to miss a lot of opportunities. We just didn’t get it done tonight.”
Ridgway also won a close junior varsity game, beating Curwensville by a score of 17-15.
The Harmony Lady Owls are the next opponent for Curwensville (7-4) as the Owls travel to Patton Hall for a Thursday night contest. The JV game tips off at 6 pm with the varsity to immediately follow.
Listen to Curwensville-Harmony girls basketball on WOKW-FM, 1029, with the pre-game show beginning at 7:15 pm.
RIDGWAY – 49
Keirsten Hinton 5 0-3 10, Emily Fullem 4 2-2 10, Hannah Park 7 0-3 15, Jessica Kifer 4 2-2 10, Gabrielle Barclay 1 2-3 4, Jilly Mercer 0 0-0 0, Rachel Foringer 0 0- 0, TOTALS – 21 6-13 49
CURWENSVILLE – 48
Heather Thorp 0 2-4 2, Christine Limbert 2 4-15 8, Ciara Strickland 10 9-12 30, Shauna Guy 2 0-1 4, Kayli Sedgwick 0 0-0 0, Hannah Dixon 0 0-0 0, Camryn Richards 2 0-0 4, TOTALS – 16 15-32 48
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
RIDGWAY 10 13 14 12 49
CURWENSVILLE 11 7 15 15 48
THREE-POINTERS: Park, Strickland
OFFICIALS: Dave Gardner, Scott Way
Lady Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/08 | MO VALLEY | 61 – 45 | 1 – 0 |
| 12/09 | BROCKWAY | 67 – 46 | 2 – 0 |
| 12/12 | @ Ridgway | 42 – 36 | 3 – 0 |
| 12/19 | @ Kane | 46 – 51 | 3 – 1 |
| 12/29 | @ Clearfield | 66 – 40 | 4 – 1 |
| 01/02 | DUBOIS CENTRAL | 30 – 40 | 4 – 2 |
| 01/05 | WEST BRANCH | 58 – 37 | 5 – 2 |
| 01/06 | @ Johnsonburg | 60 – 47 | 6 – 2 |
| 01/08 | HARMONY | ppd. | 6 – 2 |
| 01/13 | @ Elk County Catholic | 25 – 52 | 6 – 3 |
| 01/15 | @ Mo Valley | 50 – 30 | 7 – 3 |
| 01/20 | RIDGWAY | 48 – 49 | 7 – 4 |
| 01/22 | HARMONY | ||
| 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 |