CLAYSBURG — It was a night and day experience for the Curwensville Lady Tide basketball squad on the hardwood. The struggles from the season seemed to be making a turnaround that seemed evident when they took to the court on Tuesday night against the Claysburg-Kimmel Lady Bulldogs. The team battled tight, played with intent, and seemed to come together when it mattered most.
Early on, the Tide were showing that they could work cohesively and kept things close. Claysburg battled back, as the game stayed within one possession for majority of the night. In the end, the Tide would run out of steam late in the going, falling to the Lady Bulldogs, 45-38.
In the opening quarter, Curwensville got out to a quick lead and managed to hold onto the advantage at the end of eight minutes. The 9-7 advantage after one stanza was the first time the Tide finished a quarter with the lead. They would keep that feeling into the second quarter, but the home squad would keep them honest the entire time. Claysburg would take the lead heading into halftime, holding a 20-17 advantage in the locker room.
The third quarter, neither team had a true advantage, as both teams would score equal points. It would not be until the final quarter where Curwensville began running out of gas. Despite having the numbers advantage over the opposition, and Claysburg having one of their players foul out, they were able to make key baskets from deep range. A trio of threes pushed the gap to seven points at night’s end. At the same time, Curwensville could not capitalize on the struggles the Lady Bulldogs were experiencing at the foul line. Claysburg shot just 8-for-25 at the charity stripe, just over 30 percent efficiency. Curwensville did not have as many chances at the line, going 6-for-9, but not having the deep shots during the game bit them late.
Bailey Tipton led all scorers with 14 points for the Lady Bulldogs. Curwensville’s Karleigh Freyer would bucket 13 points for the Lady Tide.
The long road trip for Curwensville (0-5) continues this week as they will be on the road for the fifth of seven consecutive games, including the holiday tournament during Christmas break, on Friday when they take on the Lady Vikings of Glendale.
SCORE BY QUARTER
Curwensville 9 8 10 11 – 38
Claysburg-Kimmel 7 13 10 15 – 45
Curwensville – 38
Addison Butler 3 0-0 6, Karleigh Freyer 6 1-2 13, Brooklynn Price 1 0-0 2, Maddie Sheredy 1 0-0 2, Natalie Wischuck 3 2-2 8, Ava Hainsey 0 0-0 0, Addison Warren 0 1-2 1, Briah Peoples 2 2-3 6. TOTALS 16 6-9 38.
Claysburg-Kimmel – 45
Zakera Bush 2 3-6 8, Bailey Tipton 6 0-2 14, Zailee Bush 4 2-8 10, Alexa Francona 2 1-2 5, Eleah Diehl 1 2-3 4, Erika Feathers 2 0-2 4. TOTALS 17 8-25 45.