CURWENSVILLE — Playing a fifth game in six days might have caught up with the Curwensville Area High School girls basketball team after the Lady Tide got off to a great start against Glendale Saturday evening.
With the Lady Vikings colder than the very chilly temperature inside Patton Hall, the Lady Tide bolted to a 14-0 lead in the first six minutes, but the visitors never wavered from their three-point barrage and rallied to win the Moshannon Valley League makeup game 59-50.
“I would tend to say we were a little on the tired side and just ran out of gas a little bit, but I don’t want to make that an excuse,” Curwensville coach Bob Desmett said. “At first, they weren’t making their shots and we were. Then, we weren’t making our shots and they were.”
The late return home following their victory at Sheffield Friday night didn’t seem to affect the Lady Tide in the early going.
Hannah Condon converted a Briana Swindell pass, Madi Weber scored the next points on her way to a 29-point performance, Tara Jacobson contributed an old-fashioned three-point play and Brittney Wagner came off the bench to drill a three-pointer while the Lady Vikings were missing their first 13 shots and turning the ball over five times.
Momentum started to shift after Molly Mulhollen got Glendale (7-14, 3-4 MVL) on the board with a short shot in the lane and followed up with a three-pointer from the top of the key.
The Lady Vikings closed the gap to 15-9 at the first rest stop and really made the hometown fans uneasy by leaving the court at halftime down only 20-19 with the Lady Tide making only two of 17 field goal attempts in the second period.
With Weber accounting for 20 of their 30 points in the hectic, back-and-forth second half by constantly dribbling and powering through heavy traffic to get to the rack, the Lady Tide stayed right with the Lady Vikings until the final two minutes.
The senior standout produced all but one of the 12 points in the third quarter, capping an 8-3 run with a tough drive to put the hosts in front for the last time at 31-29 with 1:33 remaining.
The second of two treys by Sydney Lumadue and a one-hander by Mulhollen had Glendale on top 34-32 going to the fourth quarter.
Curwensville (5-15, 2-5 MVL) drew even three times, 40-40 the last one when Weber cashed her sixth steal with 5:28 on the clock after Olivia Reese and Lumadue had sandwiched three-pointers around a shot from behind the arc by Swindell.
Then, Glendale went on a back-breaking 11-2 run as Kyla Campbell hit a runner and two free throws, Mulhollen flipped in a pair of putbacks and Brooke Smeal swished their ninth three-pointer.
The Lady Vikings weren’t bashful about launching shots from long range. Their unofficial total was 33.
“We kept telling them you can’t let them out there alone like that,” Desmett said. “In the first half, we were putting pressure on them, and they were moving and trying to shoot them. The second half, we were just not getting to them, and they were just standing and shooting. You can’t take that away from them. When you let them open, they make the shots.”
After Weber drove for a layup-and-one, the Lady Vikings connected on eight of 12 free throws down the stretch, Campbell making six of eight for 14 points to share team-high honors with Lumadue.
Mulhollen wound up with 13 to go with 18 rebounds that helped Glendale to a 54-39 advantage under the boards, including 21 on their own missed shots.
“We were way off on our rebounding,” Desmett said. “We kept trying to tell them, ‘Don’t let them inside.’ But we weren’t boxing out.”
Weber, who passed 2005 graduate Kelly Penvose for second place on Curwensville’s all-time scoring list, also had a double-double with 12 rebounds.
Swindell had nine points, including a pair of three-pointers.
While Desmett wouldn’t concede fatigue might have been a factor for the Lady Tide, he did say, “It is tough to play five games in six days.”
The Lady Tide’s grueling late-season schedule continues Monday with an MVL road game against Moshannon Valley, followed by their finale Tuesday against backyard rival Clearfield.
In the exciting jayvee game, Curwensville watched a sizeable lead evaporate in the fourth quarter but bounced back to win 38-36. Alyssa Bakaysa scored 11 points and Swindell had 10 for the Lady Tide.
GLENDALE — 59
Kyla Campbell 3 8-10 14, Olivia Reese 3 1-2 8, Molly Mulhollen 6 0-1 13, Brooke Smeal 1 3-4 6, Sydney Lumadue 5 0-0 14, Lilley Vereshack 1 0-0 2, Maddie Lukehart 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 19 12-19 59.
CURWENSVILLE — 50
Madi Weber 11 7-12 29, Tarah Jacobson 2 1-1 5, Hannah Condon 1 1-2 3, Briana Swindell 3 1-2 9, Alyssa Bakaysa 0 1-4 1, Kaitlyn McCracken 0 0-0 0, Brittney Wagner 1 0-0 3, Kyra Henry 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18 11-21 50.
Three-Point Field Goals – Glendale 9 (Campbell 2, Reese 1, Mulhollen 1, Smeal 1, Lumadue 2), Curwensville 3 (Swindell 2, Wagner 1).
Score by Quarters
Glendale 9 10 15 25 – 59
Curwensville 15 15 12 18 – 50
Officials – Chris Sherkel, Marv Martell and Lee Martell.
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 ppd. 3 – 10
01/25 @ Brockway 45 – 40 4 – 10
01/30 GLENDALE ppd. 4 – 10
02/01 JOHNSONBURG 33 – 58 4 – 11
02/04 @ Philipsburg-Osceola 36 – 64 4 – 12
02/05 @ DuBois Central 43 – 52 4 – 13
02/06 @ West Branch 39 – 55 4 – 14
02/08 @ Sheffield 58 – 22 5 – 14
02/09 GLENDALE 50 – 59 5 – 15
02/11 @ Mo Valley
02/12 CLEARFIELD