CURWENSVILLE — What has been a long, tough season for the Curwensville Area High School girls basketball team suddenly became much brighter in the fourth quarter of Wednesday night’s Moshannon Valley League game with Glendale.
The Lady Tide, spurred by junior Madi Weber’s spectacular effort on both ends of the court, staged one of the great Patton Hall comebacks to celebrate a thrilling 55-50 victory that but the brakes on a 12-game slide.
Weber wound up with a very rare schoolgirl triple-double, matching her career-high with 30 points, grabbing 12 rebounds and creating havoc for the Lady Viking offense with 10 steals.
“We need that out of her,” Lady Tide coach Bob Desmett said. “When she’s doing that, that frees up other girls.”
Senior Sabrina Spencer took full advantage to complement Weber’s big output by pumping in 16 points, doubling her previous season-high with nine coming in the final seven minutes when the Lady Tide outscored the visitors by an unbelievable 24-6 margin.
“We finally played a whole game,” Lady Tide coach Bob Desmett described his team‘s second win.
Well, except for a five-minute stretch through the third quarter buzzer that he labeled as “sketchy” because of the Lady Vikings’ 17-0 run, sparked by Mackenzie Lukehart with 10 of her 23 points, that erased a lead the Lady Tide had held since early in the first quarter and had the Lady Vikes up 42-31 going to the fourth quarter.
Weber was whistled for her fourth personal foul after Glendale had gone in front 34-31 late in the third period and sat out the next four minutes.
“We were a little nervous, so we sat her down to make sure we had her in the fourth quarter,” Desmett said. “And she came through for us.“
Two free throws by Shyann Beatty gave the Lady Vikings a 13-point cushion before the Lady Tide began their charge.
Emma Rebar‘s putback and Spencer’s fast-break layup triggered a 13-3 run that was interrupted only by Brooke Smeal’s three-pointer that made it 47-44 with 6:12 remaining.
“That was a good run and just what we needed,” Desmett said.
Weber marked her return to action with steals on three consecutive Glendale possessions as Curwensville reeled off nine consecutive points on Spencer’s drive for an old-fashioned three-point play, Weber’s layup, Tarah Jacobson’s two foul shots and Spencer’s one-hander from the right corner.
In the next 1:30, Weber’s two free throws were the only points for the Lady Tide, which still trailed 50-46 when Lukehart drove the baseline for a reverse layup and the final Lady Viking points with 1:57 left.
A deep one-hander by Spencer and two more charity tosses by Weber produced the only tie of the game with a little over a minute to go.
Fouled at the basket following her sixth steal of the quarter, Weber swished the front end to make it 51-50 with 53 seconds remaining.
Twenty seconds later, she soared to block a Glendale straightaway three-point shot and corralled the loose ball near mid-court for a runout and a three-point lead.
Jacobson iced it with two more free throws with 10.8 seconds on the clock.
Curwensville was 10-for-11 at the foul line during the comeback.
“We’ve been working on that,” Desmett noted. “We haven’t been shooting fouls too good, but it’s been coming.”
Desmett pointed out switching the Lady Tide’s zone defense from a 2-3 to a 1-3-1 was pivotal during the fourth quarter.
“I think that allowed Madison to get those steals,” he said. “We were trying to get them to make that long pass across the court. That’s what they were doing, and Madison was getting the ball like she was supposed to.”
The Lady Tide had played man defense through the first half, which proved to be their best opening 16 minutes of the season in that they built a 25-21 edge after falling behind 4-0 in the first two minutes.
They responded with 11 points in row, five each by Spencer and Weber, were ahead 14-9 after their highest-scoring first quarter of the season, and led by as many as seven points in the second period before the Lady Vikings closed the gap by intermission.
Desmett’s message after Glendale (2-15, 2-4 MVL) outscored his team 24-6 in the third quarter was one of encouragement.
“We’ve been telling the girls, ‘Don’t fold. Keep playing and we can come back,’” he said. “And it was a good night to show that.
“It’s nerve-wracking to the coaching staff, but it’s good for the girls, because they see that they can do it. We’ve had faith in ‘em since Day One. Hopefully, they have their own faith now.”
Beatty had a double-double for Glendale with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
The Lady Tide (2-14, 2-5 MVL) will travel to Johnsonburg Friday for an Allegheny Mountain League game.
GLENDALE — 50
Kristen Hewitt 1 0-0 2, Mackenzie Lukehart 9 3-4 23, Shyann Beatty 3 6-8 12, Brooke Smeal 1 1-2 4, Olivia Reese 3 0-0 7, Madison Lukehart 0 0-0 0, Molly Mulhollen 1 0-0 2, Sydney Lumadue 0 0-0 0, Riley Gabrielson 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18 10-14 50.
CURWENSVILLE — 55
Sabrina Spencer 7 1-1 16, Madison Olson 0 0-0 0, Madi Weber 10 10-17 30, Tarah Jacobson 0 5-6 5, Hannah Condon 0 0-0 0, Jordan Witherite 1 0-0 2, Brittney Wagner 0 0-0 0, Emma Rebar 1 0-0 2, Briana Swindell 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 19 16-24 55.
Three-Point Field Goals — Glendale 4 (Mad. Lukehart 2, Smeal 1, Reese 1); Curwensville 1 (Spencer).
Score By Quarters
Glendale 9 12 21 8 – 50
Curwensville 14 11 6 24 – 55
Officials — Dave Gardner and Scott Way.
Lady Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/08 | @ West Branch | 31 – 62 | 0 – 1 |
| 12/12 | MO VALLEY | 32 – 62 | 0 – 2 |
| 12/19 | HARMONY | 41 – 35 | 1 – 2 |
| 12/21 | @ St. Marys | 24 – 37 | 1 – 3 |
| 12/28 | CLEARFIELD | 15 – 45 | 1 – 4 |
| 01/03 | RIDGWAY | 33 – 46 | 1 – 5 |
| 01/05 | @ Brockway | ppd. | 1 – 5 |
| 01/09 | @ DuBois Central Catholic | 33 – 48 | 1 – 6 |
| 01/10 | WEST BRANCH | 19 – 37 | 1 – 7 |
| 01/12 | @ Brockway | ppd. | 1 – 7 |
| 01/16 | ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC | 30 – 47 | 1 – 8 |
| 01/17 | @ Glendale | 37 – 52 | 1 – 9 |
| 01/19 | @ Kane | 23 – 60 | 1 – 10 |
| 01/22 | @ Brookville | 23 – 68 | 1 – 11 |
| 01/23 | @ Ridgway | 33 – 45 | 1 – 12 |
| 01/25 | BROCKWAY | 36 – 53 | 1 – 13 |
| 01/30 | @ Mo Valley | 41 – 66 | 1 – 14 |
| 01/31 | GLENDALE | 55 – 50 | 2 – 14 |
| 02/02 | @ Johnsonburg | ||
| 02/05 | @ Harmony | ||
| 02/06 | DUBOIS CENTRAL CATH | ||
| 02/09 | SHEFFIELD | ||
| 02/13 | @ Clearfield | ||
| 02/14 | @ Brockway |