CURWENSVILLE — Poor shooting and too many possessions without even getting off a shot by the Curwensville Area High School girls basketball team allowed Johnsonburg to exit Patton Hall with a 33-17 win Wednesday night.
Playing some of their best defense of the season kept the Lady Tide in the Allegheny Mountain League crossover game for the first 16 minutes even though they went more than eight minutes without a point after Maddie Weber converted Christine Limbert’s pass into a bucket that ended the first-quarter scoring at 6-6 with 3:29 left.
With the Ramettes up 11-6, Hannah Dixon fed Nikki Wormuth for the Lady Tide’s first points of the second period with 3:25 remaining and followed up with her lone field goal to make it a one-point scrap.
However, Ramette Nicole Myers grabbed an offensive rebound in the lane for second-chance points and freshman Cassidy King dealt the Lady Tide a crushing blow with a steal and a conventional three-point play with just 1.1 seconds on the clock.
The turnover was Curwensville’s 17th in the first half.
“That hurt, and that was Christine’s third foul as well,” Lady Tide coach Eric Duriancik said. “It’s tough to go into the locker room giving them that kind of momentum.”
A three-pointer from the left corner by Limbert got the Lady Tide back within six, 21-15, for the last time with 4:24 left in the third quarter and proved to be their only field goal in 12 attempts.
Johnsonburg (4-7) broke away with six consecutive points to lead 27-16 going to the fourth period, when Curwensville’s lone point was a free throw by Madison Olson with 5:28 to play.
The Lady Tide wound up 6-for-36 (16.7 percent) from the floor with 33 turnovers, many forced by the Ramettes’ quick hands, especially when they were pressing on defense.
“That falls on me,” Duriancik said. “I have to do a better job of getting through to them the fundamentals of the game.
“The effort was there, but we’re just not getting it done right now.”
Limbert’s work under the boards was a bright spot as her 14 rebounds gave Curwensville (0-8) a 37-31 edge in that department.
King had 14 points and Myers added 10 for the Ramettes, who survived on a night when they matched the Golden Tide’s shooting percentage with 11 field goals in 66 attempts.
Johnsonburg won the junior varsity game 45-1.
Curwensville swings back to the Moshannon Valley League Monday for a home game against Glendale.
JOHNSONBURG — 33
Nicole Myers 4 3-3 10, Cassidy King 4 6-9 14, Emily Dillinger 0 0-0 0, Ashton Watts 1 3-6 5, Olivia Perez-McGill 2 0-0 4, Brianna Quiggle 0 0-0 0, Lindsey Kocjancic 0 0-0 0, Skylar Sherry 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 12 11-17 33.
CURWENSVILLE — 17
Shauna Guy 2 2-5 6, Hannah Dixon 1 1-2 3, Christine Limbert 1 0-2 3, Maddie Weber 1 0-0 2, Kristina McCracken 0 0-0 0, Madison Olson 0 1-2 1, Mikayla Warren 0 0-0 0, Nikki Wormuth 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 6 4-11 17.
Three-Point Field Goals – Curwensville 1 (Limbert).
Score by Quarters
Johnsonburg 6 10 11 6 – 33
Curwensville 6 4 6 1 – 17
Officials – Craig Witherow and Bill Overly.
Lady Tide Scoreboard:
Date Opponent Score Record
12/04 @ Glendale 20 – 54 0 – 1
12/08 @ Brockway 24 – 46 0 – 2
12/14 @ West Branch 27 – 74 0 – 3
12/18 KANE 23 – 49 0 – 4
12/21 RIDGWAY 28 – 47 0 – 5
12/29 CLEARFIELD 24 – 63 0 – 6
01/04 @ DuBois Central 33 – 54 0 – 7
01/06 JOHNSONBURG 17 – 33 0 – 8
01/11 GLENDALE
01/12 ELK COUNTY
01/15 @ Harmony
01/19 @ Ridgway
01/22 BROCKWAY
01/25 DUBOIS CENTRAL
01/27 WEST BRANCH
01/29 @ Johnsonburg
02/02 SHEFFIELD
02/04 @ Clearfield
02/05 @ Kane
02/06 @ Mo Valley
02/09 HARMONY
02/10 MO VALLEY