CURWENSVILLE — Spurred by sophomore Madison Weber’s monster performance, the Curwensville Area High School girls basketball turned Wednesday night’s game with backyard rival Clearfield into a classic by roaring from behind to seize a thrilling 57-54 overtime win in front of a large Patton Hall crowd.
Weber poured in 30 points from outside and inside and dominated under the boards with 20 rebounds, both career highs, as the Lady Tide fueled their hopes of making the District 9 Class AA Playoffs with their third big victory since the calendar flipped to February.
Curwensville first-year coach Jocelyn Bash rated the barn-burner a notch above the wins over Moshannon Valley League front-runner Glendale (46-35) and, also in comeback fashion, Johnsonburg (48-47).
“It was just huge,” she said. “Overtime. Clutch shots. Big free throws. I’m just so thrilled.
“We didn’t do our best last night (at DuBois Central Catholic), but tonight they came out and played together and just had a lot more energy. That was the key.
“I didn’t realize Weber had 30. She always made points when we needed them. Great rebounds with layups. I was just thrilled with that. She really wanted this game.”
Leading scorer Hannah Dixon, held in check by the Lady Bison’s match-up zone that was extended to take away her outside shots, did manage 12 points, five below her average, but still was able to be a key factor with her ball handling and playmaking.
“We talked about Dixon, and I thought we took her out of her game, especially in the first half,” Clearfield coach Joey Castagnolo said. “We just got out on her.”
The Lady Bison didn’t do as good a job keeping the Lady Tide off the boards.
A 43-36 advantage in rebounds proved important for the Lady Tide with Christine Limbert and Nikki Wormuth joining Weber for the hard work down low, pulling down 10 and eight missed shots, respectively.
The playoff-bound Lady Bison were playing with extra incentive, too, for a win would have secured a winning record for the first time since the 2011-12 season.
Alayna Ryan fronted their offense with 18 points, Ally Lindstrom scored 15 and Brooke Cline added 14.
Clearfield (11-11) owned the lead most of the way, except for 46 seconds early in the second period when Curwensville (7-11) inched ahead twice before going stone cold and failing to score in the final 6:14 of the half.
Nikki Brossard’s putback triggered a 14-point run that had the Lady Bison in front 29-18 at intermission, when the Lady Tide seniors Dixon, Limbert and Wormuth were honored.
“Clearfield showed up tough at the beginning and I had to change the defense,” Bash said. “I wasn’t really properly prepared cause I hadn’t seen enough of them.
“There were times when I felt Clearfield had six kids on the floor. I was impressed with their team. They have a lot of skills.
“My girls started off a little slow, but I have no complaints. They played hard. They wanted it. They came back from down 11.”
The Lady Bison enjoyed their biggest lead at 31-18 early in the third quarter, but the Lady Tide prevented a breakaway and the spread was 41-30 with 6:55 remaining when the hosts mounted their comeback.
Weber grabbed the spotlight with 11 points, seven rebounds and a pair of crucial steals in the fourth quarter and the final seven points and five rebounds in the extra period.
She opened a 10-2 run with a putback and capped it with a three-pointer from the left wing that narrowed the deficit to 43-40 with 4:05 left. In between she cashed one steal and passed to Tarah Jacobson for a layup after the other.
Lindstrom’s high-arcing runner and free throw had the Lady Bison up 46-41 a minute later.
The Lady Tide were persistent, though, and wouldn’t go away.
After Dixon drove the lane to bank in a difficult shot, Webber tipped a rebound twice before gaining control for a putback.
Ryan made the front end of a one-and-one with 34 seconds on the clock, but Weber snared her miss and then was the recipient of a dandy dish by Dixon for the game-tying peep with 18 seconds left.
Clearfield got off two shots for the win, but neither was on target.
In overtime, the Lady Bison held leads of 48-47, 50-48 and 51-50 and Lindstrom answered Weber’s clutch three-pointer from the left corner with a tough bank shot to create the third tie at 53-53 with 1:18 remaining.
Fourteen seconds later, Weber tossed in a turnaround shot in the low post for the game-winning field goal.
Ryan hit one of two foul shots, and the Lady Bison regained possession on Tesa Miller’s rebound of an ill-advised Lady Tide fling but lost it on a turnover.
The clock showed 14.5 seconds when Weber stepped to the line and calmly sank two free throws for the final points.
Bash pointed a big factor in the Lady Tide’s comeback was reducing their turnovers from 14 in the first half to just six over the final 20 minutes.
“It wasn’t quite our normal halftime with our Senior Night, and I really just put it in their hands,” She said. “The mistakes they were making were those they shouldn’t be making at this level. And they cleaned it up. They really wanted this.
“It was an amazing game.”
Not for Castagnolo, who couldn’t mask his disappointment, and the Lady Bison, who had nipped the Lady Tide 52-51 in their Holiday Classic Dec. 28.
“This is heart-breaking,” he said. “I told them after the game we played our hearts out and we played well but we didn‘t play smart down the stretch.
“I thought it would be a tight game because it was their Senior Night and they have some talent, but we just didn’t play well down the stretch. We couldn’t get defensive rebounds and our foul shooting was 3-for-7 in overtime. We should be better than that.”
The loss was the fifth in six games for the Lady Bison, who have locked up a semifinal home game with St. Marys in the District 9 Class AAAA Playoffs that will be scheduled for later this month.
“I’m giving them four days off and we’ll regroup Monday to get ready for St. Marys.”
Needing two more wins to earn a trip to the postseason, Curwensville will close with four road games, Friday night at Sheffield and three in three nights next week.
In the junior varsity game, Tessa Miller’s 20 points propelled Clearfield to a 26-12 victory. Tarah Jacobson had 11 points for Curwensville.
CLEARFIELD — 54
Nikki Brossard 3 0-0 6, Niki Chew 0 1-2 1, Brooke Cline 7 0-0 14, Alayna Ryan 7 4-8 18, Ally Lindstrom 6 2-6 15, Tesa Miller 0 0-0 0, McClain Alt 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 23 7-16 54.
CURWENSVILLE — 57
Nikki Wormuth 1 1-2 3, Hannah Dixon 4 3-4 12, Christine Limbert 3 2-5 8, Madison Weber 12 3-6 30, Maddie McCracken 0 0-0 0, Tarah Jacobson 2 0-0 4, Mikayla Warren 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 22 9-17 57.
Three-Point Field Goals – Clearfield 1 (Lindstrom); Curwensville 4 (Dixon 1, Weber 3).
Score by Quarters
Clearfield 14 15 10 8 7 – 54
Curwensville 10 8 10 19 10 – 57
Officials – Rich Gormont and Bill Zupich.