CLARION — The Curwensville Area High School girls basketball team has gotten off to good starts in most of their games this season, but a 15-8 lead against Redbank Valley after eight minutes of their District 9 Class AA semifinal had to be a surprise to the majority of the fans at Clarion High School Wednesday night.
However, the Lady Tide offense fizzled after the No. 2-seeded Lady Bulldogs switched from zone to a man defense in the second quarter.
Curwensville still was clinging to a 22-18 advantage at halftime, but Redbank Valley regrouped and, led by junior standout Brooke Hinderliter, turned a big third quarter into a 47-34 victory to advance to the championship game for the first time since 2004.
Hinderliter, a third-team all-state selection last season, scored 14 of her game-high 20 points in the second half.
She also played a key role on defense, drawing the assignment to chase Lady Tide scoring machine Ciara Strickland, as well as under the boards, where she earned the majority of her points.
Strickland, the district’s leading scorer with a 22.3 average, wound up with just 14 points after lighting up the scoreboard for 10 in the first seven minutes.
Coach Rusty McCracken cited Redbank Valley’s defensive change as the main reason Curwensville’s best season since 2006-2007 came to an end at 17-7.
“We haven’t seen a lot of man all year,” he explained. “We’re used to the box-and-one and people playing all kind of junk defenses trying to shut Strickland down, so we haven’t had a lot of opportunity to run our man offense. And we didn’t execute it very well. We kind of forgot what we were doing.”
Not in the first quarter against Redbank Valley’s 1-3-1 zone, though.
After Hinderliter’s putback and Megan Bain’s three-pointer that she banked in from the top of the key had the Lady Bulldogs up 5-2, the Lady Tide got hot.
They finished the quarter making six of 11 shots, with Strickland hitting four of six attempts.
The senior guard put Curwensville in front 6-5 with a short one-hander and then bracketed a Lady Bulldog field goal with a pair of treys to make it 12-7.
Diminutive senior guard Heather Thorp electrified the crowd and sent the Lady Tide soaring into the first rest stop on a real high when she turned a steal into a long buzzer-beater by firing a laser just after crossing midcourt that just cleared the front rim.
McCracken reflected that he kept saying to himself during the first period that he hoped his team‘s great start just wasn’t an emotional high and the Lady Tide could maintain their intensity.
The Lady Tide did continue to play hard, but only Dixon found the range in the second period. The junior made three of her four shots, including a fast-break layup off a Thorp pass for a 21-14 lead with four minutes left in the half.
Then, Curwensville went stone cold.
The Lady Tide’s next basket came more than 11 minutes later on a runout by Strickland with 25 seconds left in the third period.
“When they went man-to-man, we lost some of our focus, and it did hurt us in our shooting, too,“ McCracken said. “We got shots in the second half and just didn’t feel comfortable taking them and didn’t put ‘em in the basket.”
Redbank Valley poured in the first 13 points of the second half, six by Hinderliter from point-blank range.
“She got real comfortable taking the ball inside, and we forgot to box her out,” McCracken said of the District 9’s No. 3 pointmaker. “She missed a few and just got her own rebound.
“By far, she’s the best player we’ve seen. She jumps well. She’s smooth. She has a soft touch.
“Once they got the lead, she was lights out, especially on the offensive boards. She made us pay for every offensive rebound we gave up.
Down 35-24 after Hinderliter drove the lane for a bucket to begin the fourth quarter, the Lady Tide showed their mettle with an 8-2 run to close the gap to 37-31 with 4:32 to go.
“We couldn‘t back away and just accept the loss,” McCracken said. “The girls still battled. We were still in it after scoring just two points in the third quarter.”
Then, the Lady Bulldogs cashed six of eight free throws in the next two minutes for a 43-33 cushion, and Hinderliter’s third putback of the game sealed it with 1:42 remaining.
Curwensville’s starters played the whole game and down the stretch, they missed all five shots from the floor and hit only one of five free throws.
“I tried to call timeouts and give ‘em a break, but we just kind of wore out, I guess,“ McCracken said. “I think Ciara tweaked her ankle a little bit, too. That’s why she came off Hinderliter. And you could see it on that last wide open layup. She just wasn’t comfortable taking off that ankle.”
The No. 3-seeded Lady Tide got 11 points from Dixon, nine rebounds from Shauna Guy and five assists from Thorp.
For Redbank Valley, Hinderliter pulled down 11 missed shots for a double-double, while 5-10 Kaelyn Gruver just missed another with eight points and 14 rebounds and 5-11 Becca Dougherty added 14 points.
In response to a reporter’s question of how important was it for his two seniors to not lose sight of what they had accomplished, McCracken quickly replied, “I hope they never lose sight of it.
“I’m pretty sure Heather set a school record for assists. She had over 150.
“Ciara has set all the offensive records she possibly could. She had a shot at the single season record, but we didn’t quite get enough games.
“It’s gonna be hard to replace either or both of them next year.”
Strickland finished the season with 526 points to boost her school-record to 1,525 points for her four-year career.
Redbank Valley (18-6) will play No. 1 seed Karns City (21-3) for the 9-AA title at Clarion University Saturday at a time to be announced. Karns City eliminated Moniteau 49-29 in the second game.
Both teams will move on to the PIAA Playoffs.
REDBANK VALLEY — 47
Megan Bain 2 0-0 5, Cassie Fink 0 0-0 0, Becca Dougherty 6 2-4 14, Brooke Hinderliter 7 6-7 20, Kaelyn Gruver 3 2-4 8, Sam Landers 0 0-0 0, Macy King 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18 10-15 47.
CURWENSVILLE — 34
Heather Thorp 2 1-2 6, Hannah Dixon 5 1-3 11, Christine Limbert 1 0-2 2, Ciara Strickland 6 0-0 14, Shauna Guy 0 1-3 1. TOTALS: 14 3-10 34.
Three-Point Field Goals – Redbank Valley 1 (Bain); Curwensville 3 (Thorp 1, Strickland 2).
Score by Quarters
Redbank Valley 8 10 15 14 – 47
Curwensville 15 7 2 10 – 34
Officials – Colin Gaiser, Kevin Mortimer and Bob Boyer.
Final 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 | 44 – 39 | 17 – 6 |
| 02/25 | vs. Redbank Valley @ Clarion | 34 – 47 | 17 – 7 |