CURWENSVILLE — The Curwensville girls basketball team had a tall task in front of it in its home opener Friday at Patton Hall as it welcomed the defending Inter County Conference champion and 2024 Class A state semifinalist Williamsburg to town.
The Lady Pirates, who were 27-4 last season with three of its losses to eventual state champion Bishop Guilfoyle, brought back seven girls from that squad, including the team’s second- and third-leading scorers in Leanna Royer and Levada Gorsuch.
The pair combined for 43 points to lead Williamsburg to a 97-19 victory over the Lady Tide.
“I thought the girls played better in the second half,” Curwensville head coach Dawna Wheeler said. “I told the girls that this has to be a learning experience. We have to learn from this because we have two winnable games next week. So we have to be ready to play.
“I told them we had to go out and try. We need to be more competitive. But we’re not going to see anybody better than this.”
Royer filled the stat sheet, adding seven rebounds, seven assists and seven steals to her game-high 25 points, while Gorsuch paced all players with 12 boards, six of them on the offensive side. She scored 18 points.
The Lady Pirates came out firing on all cylinders, running out to a 32-0 lead before Curwensville’s Brooklynn Price halted the run with a free throw. Williamsburg netted eight more points in the frame to take a 40-1 lead into the second.
Royer scored 13 in the first quarter with Gorsuch and Anastasia Ranalli each adding eight.
Curwensville committed 14 turnovers in the first and were just 0-for-6 shooting, while Williamsburg connected on 19 of its 26 shots from the field.
The Lady Pirates scored the first eight points of the second to take a 48-1 lead before Curwensville went on a 6-0 run, spurred on by a foul against Karleigh Freyer, who was able to tear a rebound away from Gorsuch, who was then hit for a technical foul when she bounced the ball hard off the floor in frustration.
Freyer connected on 3-of-4 free throws and Natalie Wischuck followed with a long-range 3-pointer that made the score 48-7.
Williamsburg finished the quarter on a 17-4 run to take a 65-11 advantage to the break.
The Lady Pirates won the third quarter 24-5 behind Gorsuch, who had 10 points and five boards in the frame.
Up 89-16, Williamsburg did not send its starters out for the fourth.
The Lady Pirate second team netted eight points in the frame, but were denied hitting the century mark by a Lady Tide team that played hard to the end.
“I told the girls, ‘do not let them get 100 points. Do not let them get there,” Wheeler said.
Freyer and Peoples led Curwensville with five points apiece. Peoples had six rebounds with Freyer pulling down four. Price added three points and six rebounds.
Ranalli and Prough joined Gorsuch and Royer in double figures for the visitors with 14 points apiece.
Williamsburg improved to 3-0 this season, while Curwensville fell to 0-2.
The Lady Pirates meet Guilfoyle on Dec. 9. Curwensville’s next game is also Dec. 9, hosting Johnsonburg.
Williamsburg—97
Grace Colbert 4 0-0 8, Levada Gorsuch 9 0-0 18, Regan Prough 6 0-0 14, Leanna Royer 11 1-2 25, Anastasia Ranalli 7 0-0 14, Anna Colbert 2 0-2 5, Raina Alexander 1 0-2 2, Lillian Kagarise 4 0-0 8, Jordan Flaig 2 0-0 4, Samantha Rispoli 0 0-0 0. Totals: 46 1-6 97.
Curwensville—19
Natalie Wischuck 1 1-2 4, Karleigh Freyer 1 3-4 5, Brooklynn Price 1 1-2 3, Addison Warren 0 0-0 0, Briah Peoples 2 1-2 5, Kylah Wos 1 0-0 2, Jayda Gaul 0 0-0 0, Maddie Sheredy 0 0-0 0, Jovee Elensky 0 0-0 0, Maddie Anderson 0 0-0 0, Riann Clark 0 0-0 0. Totals: 6 6-10 19.
Three-pointers: Williamsburg 5 (Prough 2, Royer 2, A. Colbert), Curwensville 1 (Wischuck).
Score by Quarters
Williamsburg 40 25 24 8—97
Curwensville 1 10 5 3—19
