CURWENSVILLE – It was an historic night at Curwensville Area High School’s Patton Hall, as senior Ciara Strickland of Curwensville became the school’s all-time leading scorer, passing Rod Kirby’s mark of 1,271 points set back in 1970.
The Lady Tide also pulled out a, surprisingly, hard fought victory over the visiting Lady Owls of Harmony, 47-38.
The Moshannon Valley League (MVL) win over the Lady Owls gives the Tide an overall record of 8-4, and remain unbeaten in MVL play at 4-0. The Lady Owls dropped to 1-12 on the year and 0-4 in league play.
Strickland scored the record-setting bucket with 3:39 left in the first period with a lay-up from the left side of the basket. That field goal gave Curwensville a 4-3 lead, one they would keep throughout the contest.
Curwensville head coach Rusty McCracken talked about Strickland, who led all scorers on the evening with 20 points, “It was a typical night for Ciara, and what an accomplishment, setting the all-time record that took a lot of hard work and practice. Unfortunately though, we depend upon her too much at times.”
The 4-3 Curwensville lead was actually how the first eight minutes ended with low scoring, missed shots and numerous turnovers on both sides.
Both squads found some offense in the second period with the Lady Tide outscoring Harmony 16-11 to take a six point halftime lead at 20-14.
Harmony kept its hopes alive for the upset throughout the third frame and trailed by only two points, 32-30, when the buzzer sounded the end of the third.
The Lady Owls went on a 6-2 run at the end of the third period to pull within a bucket, as six Harmony players scored for coach Doug Martz’s squad.
Curwensville would answer to start the fourth and final period with an 8-0 run on two buckets by Christine Limbert and one each from Strickland and Heather Thorp to give the Lady Tide a 10-point margin at 40-30 with 4:25 remaining.
The closest Harmony would come the rest of the way was by six at 40-34, thanks to two straight field goals by Lady Owl sophomore Amanda Pennington.
Limbert helped Strickland with the Lady Tide offense, scoring 10.
Harmony had no player in double digits but Stephanie Maseto and Tarra Houser had eight apiece.
McCracken spoke about the hard fought victory, saying, “Give Harmony a lot of credit. They came out and played very hard and determined. We starting out playing a little sloppy and it took us awhile to settle down.”
The Tide coach closed with, “We have 10 games left. So there is still a lot of basketball left for us to play. Teams, for whatever reason, like to play us tough, so we need to be ready.”
With the win the Lady Tide now qualify for the upcoming District 9 playoffs in February.
Harmony was victorious in the junior varsity game that tipped off the evening’s actions. The Lady Owls beat the Lady Tide by a score of 31-6.
Next up for the Lady Tide is a road trip to Brockway on Friday night to play the Lady Rovers, a team Curwensville defeated in December, at home, 67-46. JV tips off at 6 pm with the varsity tilt to immediately follow.
HARMONY – 38
Stephanie Maseto 3 2-2 8, Joleen Brink 2 0-1 4, Tara Hauser 4 0-0 8, Amanda Pennington 3 0-2 6, Shannon Dyda 1 1-2 3, Sidney Rowles 1 0-0 2, Elizabeth Rorabaugh 3 1-3 7, Josie McKee 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 17 4-11 38
CURWENSVILLE – 47
Heather Thorp 3 0-0 6, Christine Limbert 4 2-6 10, Ciara Strickland 8 3-4 20, Shauna Guy 3 1-2 7, Kayli Sedgwick 2 0-0 4, Hannah Dixon 0 0-2 0, Camryn Richards 0 0-0 0, TOTALS – 20 6-14 47
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
HARMONY 3 11 16 8 38
CURWENSVILLE 4 16 12 15 47
THREE-POINTERS: Strickland
OFFICIALS: Dave Gardner, Craig Witherow
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 | 47 – 38 | 8 – 4 |
| 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 |