ST. MARYS — Curwensville Area High School standouts Hannah Dixon and Madison Weber offset the production of Port Allegany’s high-scoring backcourt tandem, but the Lady Gators got more points from their other starters and reserves to oust the Lady Tide from the District 9 Class AA girls basketball playoffs, 60-46, on the Elk County Catholic High School hardwood Tuesday night.
The five-team tourney’s lone quarterfinal featured a pair of 1,000-point scorers, and neither of the short but quick and sharpshooting playmakers disappointed during the game in which the fifth-seeded Lady Tide had only one lead, 2-0 on a basket by Weber.
Dixon pumped in 22 points, 13 to keep the Lady Tide in the hunt through the first half, to close her career with 1,056, No. 3 on Curwensville’s all-time list.
After sitting out more than five minutes in the first two quarters because of foul trouble trying to slow down Dixon, Lady Gator senior standout Autumn Buchsenschutz lit up the scoreboard in the last 16 minutes with 21 of her game-high 26 points.
The 5-5 senior hit a pair of three-pointers early in the third quarter and then drove through the Lady Tide man defense five times for layups preventing the Moshannon Valley League co-champions from mounting a serious comeback.
Weber, who had 10 rebounds for a double-double, came alive late in the third period to complement Dixon’s effort with 17 points as the Lady Tide’s top two scorers had one more than Buchsenschutz and impressive freshman guard Cailey Barnett, who added 12 points for the Lady Gators.
However, Curwensville’s only other pointmaker was Christine Limbert with seven. The senior center did overcome foul problems of her own to showcase her toughness under the boards by pulling down a game-high 14 rebounds, an exclamation point to her career as the school’s all-time leading rebounder.
“Both teams played well, but we just couldn’t get the shots to fall that we needed, and (we had) too many mistakes,” Jocelyn Bash said after her first season as Curwensville head coach ended with a 10-13 record.
After Weber grabbed an entry pass from Nikki Wormuth and backed down her defender in the low post for a turnaround banker, Buchsenschutz and Barnett airmailed back-to-back three-pointers from outside, and the Lady Tide was in chase mode for the rest of the game.
Dixon was on the target from the left wing for the first of her three treys to make it 6-5, but Barnett answered with another three-pointer and Port Allegany got points from three of its supporting cast to open a 16-10 lead by the end of the quarter.
In the second period, Dixon scored the Lady Tide’s first eight points, six at the foul line, to keep them in the game.
Her two free throws and driving one-hander cut the deficit to 17-14.
Then, Buchsenschutz slashed to the basket to trigger a 10-0 run as her teammates picked up the slack after she picked up her third personal foul and went to the bench with 4:52 left in the half. Barnett’s straightaway three-pointer gave the Lady Gators their first double-digit lead at 25-14 midway through the quarter.
Two foul shots by Dixon and a late three-pointer from Weber closed the gap to 29-21 at the break, Curwensville winding up with just six field goals in 21 attempts and was outrebounded 26-16, with only three on the offensive end.
“We weren’t rebounding the way we needed to, so we were taking only one shot,” Bash said. “If that didn’t go in, then it was their turn.”
Three turnovers and two missed shots on the first five possessions of the third quarter spelled disaster for the Lady Tide as Buchsenschutz came out of the locker room with a purpose.
She grabbed a defensive rebound and went coast-to-coast for a layup and followed up with a three-pointer to expanded Port Allegany’s lead to 36-21, and Curwensville never could get it into single digits again.
The Lady Tide did get to within 10 at 43-33 on Weber’s two runners, with a free throw tacked on to the second one, Barnett responded her final basket.
Buchsenschutz, an excellent ballhandler with the quickness to zip past defenders, opened the fourth quarter with five points on two drives to seal Curwensville’s fate at 50-33. She added another pair of layups that gave the Lady Gators a 17-point bulge for the second time, 56-39 with 2:49 remaining.
“She’s a great player, and they‘re a good team,” Bash acknowledge. “But I’m proud of my girls. They kept playing. They kept going. They never gave up.”
Dixon, Limbert and Wormuth played their final game for the Lady Tide, who shot just over 33 percent with 16 field goals and came out on the wrong end of both rebounds, 40-30, and turnovers, 23-13.
“I wish those seniors well, because they worked really, really hard for me,” Bash said. “They did so many good things over the season.
“The biggest thing I told them was this game doesn’t make what their season was. They had a good season, and they should be proud of that.”
Port Allegany will take a seven-game winning streak and a 14-9 record into the semifinals against No. 1 seed and Northern Tier League champion Coudersport (21-1).
CURWENSVILLE — 46
Nikki Wormuth 0 0-0 0, Hannah Dixon 6 7-8 22, Christine Limbert 3 1-4 7, Madison Weber 7 1-4 17, Maddie McCracken 0 0-0 0, Tarah Jacobson 0 0-0 0, Mikayla Warren 0 0-0 0, Madison Warren 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 16 9-16 46.
PORT ALLEGANY — 60
Jena Sprankle 1 0-0 2, Erin Stauffer 3 1-3 7, Autumn Buchsenschutz 10 3-3 26, Cailey Barnett 4 1-2 12, Leah Garzel 2 2-2 6, Brianna Roys 0 1-2 1, Hannah Lathrop 1 4-6 6, Emily Buchsenschutz 0 0-0 0, Maleah Danielsl 4 1-2 12, Cierra Lannager 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 21 12-18 60.
Three-Point Field Goals – Curwensville 5 (Dixon 3, Weber 2); Port Allegany 6 (A. Buchsenschutz 3, Barnett 3).
Score by Quarters
Curwensville 10 11 12 13 – 46
Port Allegany 16 13 16 15 – 60
Officials – Chris Taylor, Shawn Deemer and Bill Barton.
Final 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 | 26 – 57 | 2 – 2 |
| 12/28 | @ Clearfield | 51 – 52 | 2 – 3 |
| 01/04 | @ Ridgway | 31- 48 | 2 – 4 |
| 01/06 | BROCKWAY | 42 – 44 | 2 – 5 |
| 01/09 | MO VALLEY | 58 – 56 | 3 – 5 |
| 01/10 | DUBOIS CENTRAL | ppd. | 3 – 5 |
| 01/11 | @ West Branch | ppd. | 3 – 5 |
| 01/14 | HARMONY | 51 – 36 | 4 – 5 |
| 01/16 | DUBOIS CENTRAL | 41 – 56 | 4 – 6 |
| 01/17 | @ Elk County Catholic | 47 – 63 | 4 – 7 |
| 01/20 | KANE | 37 – 57 | 4 – 8 |
| 01/25 | RIDGWAY | 45 – 53 | 4 – 9 |
| 01/27 | @ Brockway | 31 – 40 | 4 – 10 |
| 01/31 | @ Harmony | ppd. | 4 – 10 |
| 02/01 | GLENDALE | 46 – 35 | 5 – 10 |
| 02/03 | JOHNSONBURG | 48 – 47 | 6 – 10 |
| 02/07 | @ DuBois Central | 34 – 49 | 6 – 11 |
| 02/08 | CLEARFIELD | 57 – 54 ot | 7 – 11 |
| 02/10 | @ Sheffield | 65 – 40 | 8 – 11 |
| 02/14 | @ Hickory | 42 – 64 | 8 – 12 |
| 02/15 | @ West Branch | 57 – 53 | 9 – 12 |
| 02/16 | @ Harmony | 58 – 50 | 10 – 12 |
| 02/21 | District 9 AA Playoffs | ||
| 02/21 | vs. Port Allegany (@ ECC) | 46 – 60 | 10 – 13 |