CURWENSVILLE — After having a successful night against Harmony on Friday, the midway point of the 2019-2020 campaign for the Lady Tide awaited with their next game. For them, it meant being back inside Patton Hall for an AML contest against the Lady Crusaders of Elk County Catholic.
Those in attendance did not know what to think of how the night went except that shots wouldn’t drop, and on occasion it got chippy. But in the end, Curwensville fought hard yet fell to the visitors in a low scoring 27-14 final.
Neither team had any momentum to start the game, and that lingered throughout the first half. Combined, both squads shot 4-for-43 in the first 16 minutes of action, and head coach Bob Desmitt for the Tide took notice.
“We’ve had that issue in a couple games recently, but for both squads to struggle shooting is different. We just could not capitalize when needed,” he said.
At the end of one quarter, it was 3-3 thanks to a key three-point shot from Briana Swindell, but in the second quarter the Tide struggled both shooting and rebounding. Through the first two quarters, Curwensville was having trouble boxing out and the Lady Crusaders capitalized on both ends of the court.
Tami Geci took advantage in the quarter, putting up three of her nine points on the night to give Elk County Catholic a slight 8-3 advantage heading into halftime.
When the third quarter picked up, Curwensville found some momentum, cutting into the lead with huge baskets from Ciera Henry, Alyssa Bakaysa and Tarah Jacobson. At one point, Curwensville cut the lead to four points when the Crusader bench called time out. Desmitt and his team huddled the coaches and the reserves to get some confidence and encouragement going.
“When we got it to four points, I told them during the time out ‘Look, it’s a two-possession game. Keep after it,’ and I think honestly that was our best quarter,” he said.
After three stanzas, Curwensville was looking at a 16-10 gap, and began with possession to start the final quarter.
Unfortunately, the Tide could not get things going in the final quarter, struggling to find the basket as Jacobson added in her final four points on the night, leading Curwensville with six for the contest. Turnovers were a problem for both teams, but the Tide faltered late in the game, with five of their 27 turnovers coming in the final frame and leading to quick baskets for the visitors. Taylor Newton was the one that took advantage as she put down seven of her game-high 12 points in the final frame, including one hoop-and-hurt with a layup and foul shot that some on the Tide sideline felt was a bad call.
For Curwensville, the highlight was Bakaysa’s action on the boards as she added in a game-high 19 rebounds, while Henry added in another six.
“I told both Alyssa and Ciera we needed the kind of play they had against Harmony on the boards, to be aggressive,” Desmitt said. “They came through. I just wish we had more to show for it.”
The junior varsity game had a higher score, but the same result, as the Lady Crusaders won 30-23.
“We have to get back to work tomorrow, own up to this loss, and move forward,” Desmitt said in closing. “We have 11 more games left, and that’s 11 opportunities to improve.”
Curwensville (3-8) gets a break before they are back on the court, that coming on Friday night in another AML matchup on the road against the Lady Wolves of Kane. Tip off is set at 6 p.m. for the junior varsity, and the varsity game will follow.
SCORE BY QUARTER
Elk Co. Catholic 3 5 8 11 – 27
Curwensville 3 0 7 4 – 14
Elk County Catholic – 27
Fledderman 1 0-0 2, Newton 5 2-10 12, Geci 4 1-2 9, Bauer 0 0-0 0, Hassleman 2 0-0 4, Barnett 0 0-0 0, Weisner 0 0-0 0, Farley 0 0-0 0, O’Leary 0 0-0 0, Gadi 0 0-0 0. TOTA:S 12 3-16 27.
Curwensville – 14
Condon 0 0-0 0, Jacobson 3 0-0 6, Swindell 1 1-3 4, Bakaysa 1 0-0 2, Henry 1 0-0 2, Guiher 0 0-0 0, Cossar 0 0-0 0, Anderson 0 0-0 0, Caldwell 0 0-0 0, Pentz 0 0-0 0, Weber 0 0-0 0, Witherite 0 0-0 0, Weber-Herring 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 6 1-3 14.
GAME STATISTICS
Elk Co. Catholic/Curwensville
Shooting: 12-53/6-36
Rebounds: 29/35
Fouls: 6/15
Turnovers: 17/25
Three-Point Shots: Swindell
Lady Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/09 | WEST BRANCH | 34 – 37 | 0 – 1 |
| 12/11 | @ Mo Valley | 49 – 35 | 1 – 1 |
| 12/16 | PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA | 47 – 24 | 2 – 1 |
| 12/18 | RIDGWAY | 18 – 30 | 2 – 2 |
| 12/27 | CLEARFIELD | 16 – 49 | 2 – 3 |
| 01/02 | @ DuBois Central | 32 – 73 | 2 – 4 |
| 01/03 | @ Brockway | 21 – 63 | 2 – 5 |
| 01/06 | @ West Branch | 31 – 32 | 2 – 6 |
| 01/08 | GLENDALE | 17 – 58 | 2 – 7 |
| 01/10 | @ Harmony | 52 – 36 | 3 – 7 |
| 01/14 | ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC | 14 – 27 | 3 – 8 |
| 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 |