Lady Tide Late Rally Falls Short to Ridgway

CURWENSVILLE — The three-day weekend gave a lot of time to recoup and energize for the Lady Tide of Curwensville, as they returned to their home court Tuesday evening to face off with the Lady Elkers of Ridgway.

That longer break seemed to linger into the opening quarter, and despite with each passing moment the home squad kept coming closer and closer, it wasn’t enough.  After 32 minutes, Curwensville rallied to make the game interesting, but fell to Ridgway, 49-44.

Ridgway opened the night and kept a lot of early momentum in the first quarter thanks to eight points from Alyssa Kasmierski, as the visitors capitalized on nine turnovers from Curwensville.  Defensively, the Lady Tide were having issues stopping penetration into the paint, as Christina Fullem got to the basket on four different occasions.  Although none of those shots went in, they were enough to force her to the foul line on four occasions, making three of those baskets.

After one quarter, Curwensville faced a 21-11 deficit, and it expanded to at its peak, a 14-point gap part way in the second quarter.  Tide coach Bob Desmett burned two timeouts in the quarter to try and bring his team back into the game, but it seemed the Lady Elkers had an answer every time.

Heading into the halftime break, the gap was 35-19, and Ridgway would get the ball first in the third quarter.

Curwensville adjusted their defensive scheme in the second half, switching to a two-three zone, and pressured the ball even more.  It created many opportunities as Curwensville was outscoring the visitors 6-2 after two and a half minutes into the quarter.  A huge, although ill-advised, three-point shot by Brianna Swindell got Curwensville back into the game as they pulled to within eight.  Ridgway then answered back with a three-point shot of their own from Christina Woodford.

The Lady Tide won the third quarter, 11-9, and it fueled what ultimately was a tight final eight minutes.

Maddie Weber found her footing in the final frame, capturing a pair of steals, and put down seven of her game-high 20 points in the final frame, including going 3-for-5 from the foul line.

Curwensville made it interesting late in the contest, forcing tough shots, and ultimately getting rebounds, which they struggled with for 24 of the 32 minutes.  Weber accounted for four rebounds in the second half, but the combination of Hannah Condon and Alyssa Bakaysa combined for six key rebounds, four of them on the offense, and kept Curwensville fighting to make it a game.

Ridgway capitalized on their own opportunities in the final frame as an enormous plus-one opportunity from Kasmierski helped put the game away.  She finished the night with a double-double, accounting for 15 points and 11 rebounds, plus three assists and a pair of steals  Woodford also made it into double figure3 with 11 points.

Curwensville fell in the junior varsity game to open the night, 34-14.

The Lady Tide (3-10) have a little time to regroup, but they will have to do so on the road as they travel to face off with Halle Herrington and the Lady Mounties of Philipsburg-Osceola on Thursday evening.  Tip off is at 6 p.m. for junior varsity, with the varsity contest to follow.

SCORE BY QUARTER

Ridgway   21   14   9   5  –  49
Curwensville   11   8   11   14  –  44

Ridgway – 49

Delhunty 0 0-0 0, Woodford 5 0-1 11, Yates 0 0-0 0, Peterson 0 0-0 0, Fullem 3 3-4 9, Rohr 4 0-1 8, Cobaugh 3 0-0 6, Kamierski 7 1-1 15.  TOTALS 22 4-7 49.

Curwensville – 44

Weber 8 3-7 20, Jacobson 3 1-4 7, Dondon 0 1-2 1, McCracken 0 0-0 0, Wagner 0 0-0 0, Swindell 3 0-0 7, Henry 0 0-0 0, Bakaysa 4 1-5 9.  TOTALS 18 6-18 44.

GAME STATISTICS
Ridgway/Curwensville

Shooting:  22-54/18-52

Rebounds:  28/30

Fouls:  14/9

Turnovers:  20/23

Three-Point Shots:  Woodford/Weber, Swindell

Foul Outs:  Fullem

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 62 – 32 2 – 6
01/14 UNION 52 – 47 3 – 6
01/15 @ Elk County Catholic 42 – 61 3 – 7
01/16 @ Glendale 40 – 53 3 – 8
01/18 KANE 34 – 53 3 – 9
01/22 RIDGWAY 44 – 49 3 – 10
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