ALLPORT — The Curwensville Area High School girls basketball team put an exclamation point on its second consecutive Moshannon Valley League championship with a 51-44 win over host West Branch Wednesday night.
Ciara Strickland and Hannah Dixon scored 20 and 18 points, respectively, as the Lady Tide capped another 8-0 run to the title while padding their record to 15-6.
Strickland also had five assists and five steals, while Christine Limbert pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds to go with eight points and Heather Thorp dished out seven assists.
“It was a hard-fought game,” Curwensville coach Rusty McCracken said. “They kept coming at us. We were up 10 at one point, but they were within two in the fourth quarter.”
Dixon outscored the Lady Warriors 12-11 to fuel the Lady Tide’s 17-11 start in the first quarter.
Curwensville maintained the six-point edge at the half, 29-23, with Strickland netting eight points, and the senior standout matched that total in the third quarter, which ended with the visitors on top 41-37.
After West Branch (3-17, 3-5 MVL) made it a one-possession game, Curwensville was able to pull away with Dixon making two field goals and Thorp and Strickland combining for five of the team’s six free throws.
“We played patient ball down the stretch and either found open shoots or drove to the basket and got fouled,” McCracken said. “We made six of eight foul shots, with every one being important. That’s as good as we’ve shot from the foul line in a while.”
Curwensville outpointed the hosts 9-3 at the charity stripe and had a 4-3 edge in three-pointers, with Strickland accounting for three of them.
Taylor Pedmo tallied 15 points and Jalee Rockey added 12 for the Lady Warriors.
The playoff-bound Lady Tide will close the regular season by hosting backyard rival Clearfield Friday night.
West Branch won the junior varsity game 48-22.
Moshannon Valley League — Curwensville 8-0, Moshannon Valley 4-4, Glendale 3-4, West Branch 3-5, Harmony 1-6.
CURWENSVILLE — 51
Heather Thorp 0 3-4 3, Hannah Dixon 8 1-3 18, Christine Limbert 3 2-3 8, Ciara Strickland 7 3-5 20, Shauna Guy 1 0-0 2, Camryn Richards 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 19 9-15 51.
WEST BRANCH — 44
Skylar Ceprish 0 0-0 0, Taylor Pedmo 7 0-0 15, Jalee Rockey 4 2-4 12, Alaina Speigle 1 0-0 2, Leanna Prinkey 3 0-0 6, Jessie Milliron 0 0-0 0, Breana Hayward 4 1-6 9. TOTALS: 19 3-10 44.
Three-Point Field Goals – Curwensville 4 (Dixon 1, Strickland 3); West Branch 3 (Pedmo 1, Rockey 2).
Score by Quarters
Curwensville 17 12 12 10 – 51
West Branch 11 12 14 7 – 44
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 | 47 – 40 | 9 – 4 |
| 01/26 | @ DuBois Central | ppd. | 9 – 4 |
| 01/27 | @ DuBois Central | 33 – 60 | 9 – 5 |
| 01/28 | GLENDALE | 50 – 33 | 10 – 5 |
| 01/30 | JOHNSONBURG | 38 – 51 | 10 – 6 |
| 02/03 | @ Sheffield | 63 – 36 | 11 – 6 |
| 02/04 | @ Glendale | 55 – 43 | 12 – 6 |
| 02/06 | KANE | 55 – 35 | 13 – 6 |
| 02/09 | @ Harmony | 46 – 40 | 14 – 6 |
| 02/11 | @ West Branch | 51 – 44 | 15 – 6 |
| 02/13 | CLEARFIELD | ||
| TBD | District 9 Playoffs |