CURWENSVILLE — With a little extra time to prepare thanks to an early-week postponement, the Lady Tide of Curwensville returned to their hardwood on Wednesday evening in the hopes of getting on the winning track. On the opposite side, the visiting Lady Cardinals of DuBois Central Catholic wanted to play spoiler to the home team on this blustery night.
Unfortunately for the home squad, just like their previous game on Friday, it was one quarter that spelled their doom.
After only being up by 11 at halftime, the Lady Cardinals exploded in the third stanza, blistering the scoreboard for 26 points, including a 14-0 run to close the quarter, as they cruised to a 66-44 victory.
Curwensville began the night with the lead thanks to Madi Weber hitting the opening three-point shot from the high post.
But the visiting squad began reeling in the lead shortly after, as the Lady Tide squandered possessions and also got into early foul trouble. By the time the opening eight minutes came to a conclusion, Curwensville faced a 16-10 deficit, but also already had seven team fouls to their credit, giving DuBois Central Catholic the early second quarter advantage opportunity at the free throw line.
The story at the line for both teams was opportunities, as the teams combined for 41 foul shots on the night. For Curwensville, those opportunities ended up wasted as they finished the night 5-for-19 at the charity stripe, while DuBois Central Catholic finished 10-for-22. Curwensville had its best opportunity at the foul line in the second quarter when the Lady Cardinals committed the lone technical foul on the night. But, it never came from the court.
During a break in the action during an in-bounds run by the Lady Tide that went out of bounds, but stayed in their control, Lady Cardinals head coach Jordan Hoover confronted one of the officials. The whistle blew and he was given a clear warning at the 4:23 mark in the quarter.
It wasn’t more than 10 seconds later as Curwensville again took possession right after the warning that he continued to argue the same point to the same official. At that moment, the whistle blew and the official threw up the technical signal, forcing Hoover to sit for the remainder of the game.
Sadly, Weber’s pair of free throws did not go in, and as the teams headed into the locker room, Curwensville faced a 26-15 gap, but had possession to begin the third quarter.
That third quarter ultimately became much like quicksand for the Lady Tide, as no matter how hard they tried, they continued to fall farther and farther behind. Six different Lady Cardinals scored points in the ensuing eight minutes, led by both Shay Gulvas and Alyssa Bitner with eight points a piece. Curwensville fell victim to turnovers in the quarter as well, committing nine that led to 12 points for the visitors, part of a 14-0 run that ended the quarter.
DuBois Central Catholic finished with a pair of players in double digits as Bitner finished with 21 points, plus nine boards, while Gulvas added in 15 with four boards and a pair of assists.
If there was one dominant quarter by Curwensville, it came in the final eight minutes, as Weber went on a tear, finishing with 15 of her game-high 27 points in the frame. Weber now needs 14 points to eclipse the 1,000 mark on her career. She added in another nine rebounds, plus four assists.
Curwensville dropped the opening junior varsity game, 38-18. The game faced a slight delay in the fourth quarter when a fire alarm went off, which ultimately was a false alarm.
There is little time to recover as Curwensville (1-6) hosts the Lady Owls of Harmony on Thursday night. Tip off at 6 p.m. for junior varsity, with varsity following.
SCORE BY QUARTER
D.C. Catholic 16 10 26 14 – 66
Curwensville 10 5 7 22 – 44
DuBois Central Catholic – 66
Sabatose 2 0-0 4, Wruble 1 0-0 3, A. Pettenati 3 2-4 9, H. Pettenati 0 0-0 0, Gulvas 7 1-1 15, Kosko 0 2-4 2, Swelligan 4 0-2 8, Cogley 2 0-0 4, Bitner 8 5-9 21. TOTALS 27 10-22 66.
Curwensville – 44
Weber 12 1-5 27, Jacobson 1 1-5 3, Condon 0 0-2 0, McCracken 0 0-0 0, Wagner 0 2-2 2, Swindell 3 1-2 8, Witherite 0 0-4 0, Henry 1 0-0 2, Bakaysa 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 18 5-19 44.
GAME STATISTICS
DuBois Central Catholic/Curwensville
Shooting: 27-61/18-43
Rebounds: 26/21
Turnovers: 19/22
Fouls: 20/18
Three-Point Shots: Wruble, A. Pettenati/Weber (2), Swindell
Technical Fouls: Coach Hoover
Foul Outs: Condon
Lady Tide Scoreboard:
Date Opponent Score Record
12/07 WEST BRANCH 23 – 64 0 – 1
12/10 MO VALLEY 54 – 62 0 – 2
12/13 @ Harmony 47 – 40 1 – 2
12/19 @ Ridgway 38 – 50 1 – 3
12/27 @ Clearfield 36 – 60 1 – 4
01/04 BROCKWAY 32 – 34 1 – 5
01/07 UNION ppd. 1 – 5
01/09 DUBOIS CENTRAL 44 – 66 1 – 6
01/10 HARMONY
01/14 UNION
01/15 @ Elk County Catholic
01/16 @ Glendale
01/18 KANE
01/22 RIDGWAY
01/24 @ Philipsburg-Osceola
01/25 @ Brockway
01/30 GLENDALE
02/01 JOHNSONBURG
02/05 @ DuBois Central
02/06 @ West Branch
02/08 @ Sheffield
02/11 @ Mo Valley
02/12 CLEARFIELD