CURWENSVILLE – It wasn’t pretty, but it was exciting, as the West Branch girls basketball team edged Curwensville Monday night on the Lady Tide’s home floor, 38-34, in the season opener for both squads in a Moshannon Valley league game.
The Lady Warriors jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the first quarter as Ashley Martz made a basket with 3:00 minutes to play in the first.
Lady Tide senior Briana Swindell cut the West Branch margin to 6-4 with a basket of her own near the end of the first quarter.
In a game with numerous turnovers and fouls, each team did, somehow, manage to put up 12 points apiece in the second eight minutes as West Branch took an 18-16 lead into halftime.
Martz scored eight of the Lady Warriors’ points in the second and ended the game as high scorer with 21 points.
Tarah Jacobson and Alyssa Bakaysa each had four second quarter tallies for Curwensville with Bakaysa leading the Lady Tide with 11 points on the night.
The Lady Tide did take the lead briefly in the third frame when Tarah Jacobson broke a 20-20 tie at the 2:10 mark with a two-pointer, which was then followed by a Kyra Henry basket to give Curwensville a four point edge, 24-20.
West Branch proceeded to go on a 7-0 run that carried over into the final eight minutes to go back in front 27-24.
The Lady Warriors iced the game in the final three minutes by going nine of 12 from the free throw line.
Sarah Betts also had double figures for the Lady Warriors with 11 points.
Curwensville assistant head coach Jim Hoyt, taking over for head coach Bob Desmett, who was unable to make the game said afterwards, “ We are doing much better at this point this year than last year. We just need to play more aggressively on the defensive end without fouling as much as we did tonight.”
Hoyt then commented, “We are blessed to have four seniors on this team because after that we are very young with no juniors, so we are a little shallow on the bench. The young players will need to step up as the season progresses.”
There was no junior varsity game.
The Lady Tide return to the hardwood on Wednesday with a trip to Moshannon Valley in another Moshannon Valley League contest. Tip-off is at 7:30 pm.
You can listen to the Lady Tide-Lady Damsel game on WOKW-FM, 102.9, starting with the pre-game show at approximately 7:15 pm.
WEST BRANCH – 38
Sarah Betts 4 2-2 11, Ashley Mertz 7 7-17 21, Tony Kalke 0 2-2 2, Meghan Cantolina 0 2-6 2, Kaitlyn McGonigal 1 0-2 2, Hannah Betts 0 0-2 0, Emily Parks 0 0-0 2, Kayleigh Smeal 0 0-1 0, TOTALS – 12 13-32 38
CURWENSVILLE – 34
Hannah Condon 3 0-6 6, Tarah Jacobson 3 1-2 7, Jordan Witherite 2 0-2 4, Alyssa Bakaysa 3 5-6 11, Briana Swindell 1 0-1 2, Kyra Henry 1 0-0 2, Skylar Pentz 0 0-0 0, Austyn Guiher 1 0-0 2, TOTALS – 14 6-17 34
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
WEST BRANCH 6 12 7 13 38
CURWENSVILLE 4 12 8 10 34
THREE-POINTERS: WEST BRANCH – 1 S. Betts CURWENSVILLE – NONE
OFFICIALS: Joe Palmer, Dave Gardner, Andrew Sorbera
Lady Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/09 | WEST BRANCH | 34 – 37 | 0 – 1 |
| 12/11 | @ Mo Valley | ||
| 12/16 | PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA | ||
| 12/18 | RIDGWAY | ||
| 12/27 | CLEARFIELD | ||
| 01/02 | @ DuBois Central | ||
| 01/03 | @ Brockway | ||
| 01/06 | @ West Branch | ||
| 01/08 | GLENDALE | ||
| 01/10 | @ Harmony | ||
| 01/14 | ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC | ||
| 01/17 | @ Kane | ||
| 01/21 | @ Ridgway | ||
| 01/24 | BROCKWAY | ||
| 01/27 | @ Clearfield | ||
| 01/30 | @ Philipsburg-Osceola | ||
| 01/31 | @ Johnsonburg | ||
| 02/04 | DUBOIS CENTRAL | ||
| 02/05 | @ Glendale | ||
| 02/07 | SHEFFIELD | ||
| 02/10 | HARMONY | ||
| 02/12 | MO VALLEY |
