CURWENSVILLE — Coming off its best showing of the season, the Curwensville Area High School girls basketball team carried that momentum through most of the first quarter against Elk County Catholic Wednesday night.
Sparked by junior Hannah Dixon’s pair of old-fashioned three-point plays on strong drives that bracketed a backdoor-cut layup on a pass from Shauna Guy, the Lady Tide led 12-5 after five minutes of the Allegheny Mountain League game.
However, they didn’t register another field goal the rest of the half as the Lady Crusaders surged past them with 21 points in the second period and went on to triumph 53-39 in Patton Hall.
Nine free throws in 16 attempts enabled the Lady Tide to hang around in the second period, which ended with the Lady Crusaders on top 30-21.
Dixon canned five foul shots en route to a season-high 18 points, but coach Eric Duriancik was even more impressed by the way she orchestrated the offense.
“That was her best game as far as being a leader for her teammates, directing people and making good decisions with the basketball,” he said. “Yeah, the points came, but more than that, I was pleased with the decisions she made.”
Freshman Maddie Weber matched her season-high with 11 points, junior Christine Limbert pulled down 12 rebounds despite sitting out several minutes because of fouls and the Lady Tide had a season-low 16 turnovers as they continue to show progress.
“Limbert battles all the time, and that would be, by far, the best outcome we’ve had as far as turnovers,” Duriancik said. “I think all of the players, one through 12, definitely are starting to get the hang of what we want them to do.”
What the Lady Tide couldn’t overcome was the Lady Crusaders’ size in the post, Mackenzie Gahr and Reilly Herzing combining for 25 points and 17 rebounds. Gahr just missed a double-double with her 14-point, nine-rebound performance.
“Their size definitely hurt us,” Duriancik said. “Then, we got in foul trouble. We tried to adjust, but you always give up something when you do that. And they took advantage of it.”
Most of Elk County Catholic points came from close range, if not right under the hoop, as they were able to break down Curwensville’s man defense with drives and excellent passing.
A 15-4 run in the final 5:50 of the third quarter sealed it for the Lady Crusaders, who lead the AML North Division at 6-1 and are 8-4 overall with Gahr the lone senior.
The winless Lady Tide, who kept the visitors off the scoreboard for six minutes in the fourth quarter with the regulars on the floor, dipped to 0-4 in the AML South Division with their 10th loss.
Elk County Catholic won the junior varsity game 37-6.
Curwensville goes to Westover Friday for a Moshannon Valley League encounter with Harmony.
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC — 53
Mackenzie Cashmer 3 0-1 6, Josie Smith 1 2-2 4, Cassidy Cunningham 4 0-2 8, Mackenzie Gahr 5 4-4 14, Reilly Herzing 5 1-2 11, Maddie Kear 2 0-0 4, McKayla Wilson 1 0-0 2, Sammie Fedus 1 2-2 4, Sady VanAlstine 0 0-0 0, Maggie Dinsmore 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 22 9-13 53.
CURWENSVILLE — 39
Shauna Guy 1 0-0 2, Hannah Dixon 5 8-12 18, Christine Limbert 1 3-4 5, Maddie Weber 5 1-2 11, Nikki Wormuth 1 1-4 2, Kristina McCracken 0 0-0 0, Madison Olson 0 0-0 0, Mikayla Warren 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 13 13-22 39.
Score by Quarters
Elk County Catholic 9 21 19 4 – 53
Curwensville 12 9 8 10 – 39
Officials – Tim Barnes, Rusty McCracken and Scott Way.
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 47 – 55 0 – 9
01/12 ELK COUNTY ppd. 0 – 9
01/13 ELK COUNTY 39 – 53 0 – 10
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
