CURWENSVILLE — Leading by 15 points with just under seven minutes remaining, the Curwensville Area High School girls basketball team had to withstand a furious comeback by West Branch before escaping with a 51-48 victory at Patton Hall Wednesday night.
Skylar Ceprish fueled the Lady Warriors’ rally with two of her four three-pointers in the fourth quarter and Alana Speigle battled under the boards for six points before Hannah Dixon put the Lady Tide on her back in the final 3:44 to insure their second win in three outings, all in the Moshannon Valley League.
The senior guard handled the pressure of going to the foul line in one-and-one situations on three occasions like a pro, calmly sinking all six shots, the first two sets coming after the pesky Lady Warriors had drawn to within five points at 39-34 and 41-36.
Dixon’s short jumper and two foul shots gave the Lady Tide a 47-37 advantage with 2:34 left, but the Lady Warriors refused to surrender and capitalized on Curwensville’s two misses and two turnovers to trim the margin to 49-48 on back-to-back threes by Ceprish.
Then, with 4.2 seconds on the clock, Dixon proved to be clutch one more time at the charity stripe, capping a 22-point performance with two swishes.
Ceprish beat the buzzer with a possible game-tying one-hander from between the circles, but it was too strong as the Lady Warriors suffered their second tough loss in a row, having been edged 53-51 by Philipsburg-Osceola in their opener.
“Hannah did a fantastic job,” Curwensville first-year coach Jocelyn Bash said. “She was my leader tonight.
“I told the girls foul shots are so important, and they were at the end especially. Those last two by Hannah, I told her I really appreciated that because I was getting a little nervous.”
Her players seemed a little nervous early on, Niki Wormuth’s putback and Madison Weber’s free throw Curwensville’s only points in the first six minutes.
“They were very, very jittery in that first quarter,” Bash said.
Down 10-3, Curwensville went on a 19-3 run in an eight-minute run that lasted late into the second period as reserve Maddie McCracken provided the spark with a three-pointer and Dixon and Christine Limbert contributed five points apiece.
Seven consecutive points at the outset of the third period had the Lady Tide comfortably ahead, 31-15, and they maintained that spread until the Lady Warriors began to make it very, very interesting.
“They played great,” Bash praised the visitors, who got 20 points from Ceprish, 14 from Hailey Prestash and 11 points and 10 rebounds from Speigle.
Weber backed Dixon with 11 points while Limbert just missed a double-double with nine points and 16 rebounds.
The final margin was reflected in the statistics as Curwensville shot 18-for-61 from the floor with 37 rebounds and 23 turnovers while West Branch shot 17-for-62 with 39 rebounds and 27 turnovers.
The Lady Tide switches to the Allegheny Mountain League Monday with the long trip to Kane.
In the prelim, West Branch’s junior varsity prevailed, 24-17, behind Emily White’s 14 points. Tarah Jacobson’s six points were high for the hosts.
Moshannon Valley League – Glendale 2-0, Curwensville 2-1, West Branch 0-1, Moshannon Valley 0-1, Harmony 0-1.
WEST BRANCH — 48
Jessica Milliron 0 0-0 0, Skylar Ceprish 7 2-5 20, Hailey Prestash 5 1-2 14, Alana Speigle 4 3-4 11, Brynn Bell 1 0-2 2, Emily White 0 1-2 1, Morgan Emigh 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 17 7-15 48.
CURWENSVILLE — 51
Hannah Dixon 6 10-14 22, Christine Limbert 4 1-3 9, Nikki Wormuth 1 0-2 2, Mikayla Warren 1 0-0 2, Madison Weber 4 2-5 11, Maddie McCracken 1 0-0 3, Tarah Jacobson 1 0-0 2, Heidi Rowles 0 0-0 0, Madison Olson 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18 13-24 51.
Three-Point Field Goals – West Branch 7 (Ceprish 4, Prestash 3); Curwensville 2 (Weber 1, McCracken 1).
Score by Quarters
West Branch 10 5 7 26 – 48
Curwensville 9 15 11 16 – 51
Officials – Rich Gormont and Tim Barnes.
Lady Tide Scoreboard:
Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
12/09 | @ Glendale | 27 – 37 | 0 – 1 |
12/12 | @ Mo Valley | 52 – 46 | 1 – 1 |
12/14 | WEST BRANCH | 51 – 48 | 1 – 2 |
12/19 | KANE | ||
12/28 | @ Clearfield | ||
01/02 | MO VALLEY | ||
01/04 | @ Ridgway | ||
01/06 | BROCKWAY | ||
01/10 | DUBOIS CENTRAL | ||
01/11 | @ West Branch | ||
01/14 | HARMONY | ||
01/17 | @ Elk County Catholic | ||
01/20 | KANE | ||
01/25 | @ Ridgway | ||
01/27 | @ Brockway | ||
01/31 | @ Harmony | ||
02/01 | GLENDALE | ||
02/03 | JOHNSONBURG | ||
02/07 | @ DuBois Central | ||
02/08 | CLEARFIELD | ||
02/10 | SHEFFIELD |