CURWENSVILLE — The No. 3-seeded Curwensville Area High School girls basketball team will be playing a very familiar foe, Brockway, in the first round of the District 9 Class AA Playoffs Wednesday night.
In Allegheny Mountain League South Division game action against the Lady Rovers, the Lady Tide prevailed 67-46 at Patton Hall on Dec. 9 and 47-40 at Brockway on Jan. 23.
Tipoff will be at 7:30 in the DuBois Area High School gym. Fans are reminded that a District 9 Class AA boys quarterfinal between Port Allegany and Moniteau is the first game of the doubleheader and will start at six o’clock.
Two other girls quarterfinal games will be played Wednesday, pitting No. 2 Redbank Valley (16-6) will play No. 7 Kane (12-11) and No. 4 Moniteau (14-8) is pitted against No. 5 Brookville (13-9).
Defending champion and No. 1 seed Karns City (20-3) received a bye.
Both Curwensville (16-6) and Brockway (12-9) stormed down the stretch.
The Lady Tide roll into the postseason on a six-game winning streak and sport nine victories in their last 11 outings.
The Lady Rovers had won eight of nine games before losing 58-30 to undefeated Elk County in the semifinals of the AML Playoffs Friday.
Two of their regular season wins were against AML-South champ DuBois Central Catholic, which defeated the Lady Tide twice.
“Obviously, they’ve been playing better,” Curwensville coach Rusty McCracken said. “They’re hot and they’re getting girls back who were hurt and getting back into the swing of things.
“They’ll be gunning for us, no doubt.”
Brockway is led by senior point guard Julie Esposito, who is seventh in the district in scoring with a 16.1 average for 322 points.
“She likes to drive, drive, drive and is tougher on the move, but she does shoot outside as well,” he said. “Usually, she fuels them. They’re pretty balanced, though.
“We just have to play tough defense, handle the boards and try to give them less second shots than we have in the past. They have good size inside.”
Curwensville will counter with the leading pointmaker in District 9.
Senior guard Ciara Strickland has amassed 496 points, including 54 three-pointers, for a 22.5 average. She lit up the Lady Rovers for 29 points in both of their regular season scraps.
“We know they’re gonna try to stop Ciara,” McCracken said. “We have to play our tempo and get everybody involved in scoring. That takes that box-and-one option away.”
Sophomore Hannah Dixon has come on to complement Strickland by hitting double figures in six of the last eight games to hike her average to 10.4 points. She has 207 points with a dozen double-figure efforts.
Christine Limbert, another sophomore, has made marked improvement and is a real force inside for the Lady Tide, pulling down rebounds at a 13.2 clip with a total of 291 and closing in on a seven-point scoring average with at least seven markers in the last seven games.
Distribution and defense are Heather Thorp’s forte. The senior playmaker has racked up 148 assists, just under seven a game, while averaging 2.5 steals and nearly five rebounds.
Junior Shauna Guy, the fifth starter, averages 6.2 points and almost six rebounds.
Junior Kayli Sedgwick and sophomore Camryn Richards are the top reserves.
Offensively, Curwensville is averaging 49.5 points and Brockway 43.7.
Defensively, the Lady Rovers have a slight edge, allowing 40.6 points to the Lady Tide’s 41.9.
Curwensville is making its third consecutive appearance in the districts.
Kane sidetracked previous two Lady Tide teams, including 52-45 last February when the Lady Tide was the No. 2 seed.
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 | 51 – 28 | 16 – 6 |
| 02/18 | District 9 AA Playoffs | ||
| 02/18 | vs. Brockway @ DuBois 7:30 |