CURWENSVILLE — Most, if not all, coaches will stress to their athletes how crucial the first few minutes of the second half can be, especially in a tight game.
The Curwensville Area High School girls basketball team paid to learn that lesson with a loss to Allegheny Mountain League South Division rival Brockway in Patton Hall Friday night.
The Lady Tide, who lost 46-24 at Brockway on Dec. 8, went to the locker room down only 18-15, but Lady Rover sophomores Leah Lindemuth and Kaitlyn Morelli scored the first nine points in the third quarter.
That made the difference as the Lady Rovers survived a spirited effort by the Lady Tide over the last 11-plus minutes to prevail 42-32.
“We talk a lot about not having a bad third quarter, and it just seems to keep snakebiting us,” Curwensville coach Eric Duriancik said.
The Lady Tide had four turnovers, three of them steals, and missed four shots during the 3:20 stretch that doomed them to their 12th loss in 13 games.
Hannah Dixon dribbled the length of the court for a layup after grabbing a rebound and Christine Limbert followed with a putback to chop Curwensville’s deficit below double digits, but hosts couldn’t make any more headway until those two teamed up again near the midway point of the fourth period.
Dixon’s two free throws and Limbert’s steal for two made it 33-27.
Dixon got the Lady Tide within six again at 37-31 with 1:36 remaining by knifing through the Lady Rover defense for a layup and sinking another pair of foul shots.
Brockway (3-13) sealed the win with five free throws in eight tries during the final minute.
Dixon wound up with 13 points, and none came easy.
“She gets everybody’s best defender, best defense,” Duriancik noted. “They’re really keying on her, and she keeps battling through it.
“She gets frustrated at times, and I understand. We’re trying to get her to eliminate that frustration and keep playing.”
Limbert turned in her usual double-figure rebound performance with 12, but only four were under the offensive boards, where she usually is much more effective.
“They made a concerted effort to box Christine out,” Duriancik said. “She is relentless going to the boards, and they did a really good job getting a body on her and stopping her from getting second and third shots.”
Turnovers proved to be a big factor for the Lady Tide, who were guilty of 24, eight more than the Lady Rover total.
10 were steals, with Morelli cashing four into seven points.
“About 35 percent of the time we have the ball, we lose it,” Duriancik said. “We don‘t even get a shot off. We get nothing. We basically hand it to the other team.”
Morelli paced Brockway with 15 points and 11 rebounds, Lindemuth added 12 points and Katlyn Cappetta had nine rebounds.
Overall, Duriancik was pleased with the Lady Tide’s defense that limited the Lady Rovers to less than 25 percent shooting on 14 field goals.
“I though Maddie Weber played her best effort game,” he said of the freshman who had eight points and nine rebounds. “We asked her to guard No. 10 (Lindemuth), who is their top scorer, and with a couple of exceptions, she did a really, really good job. Maddie gave us three or four extra possessions, too, by getting a free throw rebound with hustle.
“When Maddie got in foul trouble, we had to switch Shauna (Guy) on to No. 10, and she did a really good job, making it tough for her. She might have got her points, but she had to work for most of them. That’s all we ask in that regard.”
Duriancik also cited Nikki Wormuth for her improved play.
“She played really hard, talking on defense, boxing out and hitting a couple shots,” he said. “She’s getting there. I thought this was one of her better games.
“There were a lot of positives and we’re going to try to build on them. At the same time, we’ve still got to eliminate the negative stuff.”
In the prelim, the Brockway jayvees triumphed 28-12.
Curwensville will host AML-South front-runner DuBois Central Catholic Monday night.
BROCKWAY — 42
Katlyn Cappetta 3 1-2 8, Lilly Larson 1 0-0 2, Leigha Pertz 0 0-0 0, Leah Lindemuth 5 2-3 12, Kaitlyn Morelli 3 9-16 15, Adriana Azzato 2 1-2 5, Sabrina Bundy 0 0-0 0, Alena Brosky 0 0-0 0, Karli Ojeda 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 14 13-23 42.
CURWENSVILLE — 32
Shauna Guy 0 1-4 1, Hannah Dixon 3 7-12 13, Christine Limbert 3 0-1 6, Madison Weber 4 0-3 8, Nikki Wormuth 2 0-0 4, Kristina McCracken 0 0-0 0, Madison Olson 0 0-0 0, Mikayla Warren 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 12 8-20 32.
Three-Point Field Goals – Brockway 1 (Cappetta).
Score by Quarters
Brockway 7 11 12 12 – 42
Curwensville 5 10 6 12 – 32
Officials – Dave Gardner 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 38 – 51 1 – 10
01/19 @ Ridgway 27 – 61 1 – 11
01/22 BROCKWAY 32 – 42 1 – 12
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