CURWENSVILLE — When Briah Peoples drilled a 3-pointer with time dwindling down Monday evening at Patton Hall, the Curwensville girls basketball team had a chance, trailing Moshannon Valley by just one point with three seconds remaining.
But the Lady Tide allowed the Damsels to inbound the ball and then did not foul them to stop the clock and put them on the line and time ticked away as Mo Valley escaped with 52-51 victory.
The final inbounds play did not happen without some initial controversy, however, as the clock operator thought there was a whistle after the Peoples trey and stopped the clock with 5.2 seconds remaining. But there was no whistle, and after a discussion (during which time Curwensville head coach Dawna Wheeler did take a timeout), the officials determined there should be 3.0 seconds remaining.
It all became a moot point, though, as Mo Valley was able run out the clock without another stoppage.

“We were so close,” Wheeler said. “We just need to be able to get to that next step and know what we need to do to get that win. We needed to foul. We said that in the (timeout) huddle. But that’s OK. They’re teenage girls.”
While the Lady Tide were not able to make the final play they needed to pull out the victory, they did show plenty of heart battling back from deficits time and time again.
Curwensville trailed by as much as eight points in the first quarter and were behind on the scoreboard by four at the half and by six a couple minutes into the fourth quarter, but kept finding its way back into the game. And the Lady Tide did it while down a starter (Brooklynn Price) and with only three girls on the bench due to illness.
“Once these teams get that lead on us, we have a tendency to just be like, ‘alright’ and it gets away from us,” Wheeler said. “But we battled back and played hard tonight. We’re all battling some type of sickness and the flu is running through here. But the girls battled.”
With the game tied 7-7. Mo Valley went on an early 8-0 run in the first quarter behind Lily Switala, who scored eight in the frame and was a big difference maker down the stretch, netting 13 in the fourth quarter. Switala, who scored 22 points, also helped the Damsels win the battle on the boards, ripping down a game-high 15 rebounds.
But the Lady Tide closed the gap to 15-11 by the end of the first and the 4-point difference on the scoreboard remained in place at the half, 27-23. Natalie Wischuck and Jovee Elensky both connected from behind the arc in the second to help Curwensville stay just two possessions behind.
Wischuck and Kylah Wos each hit 3s for Curwensville in the third quarter to help the Lady Tide cut the deficit to 34-33 heading to the final stanza. Both teams were ice cold fron the floor in the third with the Damsels shooting only 3-of-16 from the field and Curwensville hitting on just three of its 18 tries.
Mo Valley got off to a fast start to the fourth as Switala stole the ball on Curwensville’s first possession and went coast-to-coast for a layup to put her team in front 36-33.
On the next Damsel possession, Switala hit a layup off a nice feed from Brooke Mihalko, was fouled and converted the free throw to make it 39-33.
“She played really well,” Wheeler said of Switala. “She was hard to guard. She had a good night.”
After a defensive stop, Curwensville’s Addison Warren did a nice job running the floor and drawing a foul, then making both free throws to cut the Lady Tide deficit to 39-35. But Switala answered with a putback off an offensive board to take the Damsel lead back to six.
But eventually the Lady Tide took a 1-point lead, mostly on the back of Karleigh Freyer, who hit a 3-pointer, scored off an offensive board and putback and hit 2-of-4 free throws with the second coming after she blocked a Damsel shot, got the rebound and ran the floor before drawing the foul on a layup attempt.

Freyer had 22 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots for Curwensville.
“We really rely on Karleigh a lot, offensively and defensively,” Wheeler said. “Addison Warren had a heck of a night on defense too.”
Freyer extended Curwensville’s lead to 46-43 with a layup in traffic, but on Mo Valley’s next trip down the floor, Alexis Clarkson drove to the hoop, made a bucket and was able to draw a foul on contact as she went to the basket. She didn’t make the free throw, but the foul was the fifth on Wischuck, who had to exit the game with about two minutes to play.
“That hurt. She just brings that energy,” Wheeler said. “But she was still there on the bench cheering them on and telling the girls what to do. She still had the energy on the bench.”
Not long after, the Damsels went back in front for good, thanks to Switala, who scored on consecutive possessions, one bucket off an offensive board and the other on a short jumper in the paint.
Peoples hit two free throws to draw the Lady Tide back to within one, 49-48, but Madison McCoy responded with a step-back 3-pointer for the Damsels to put the visitors on top 52-48 to set up the finish.
Peoples joined Freyer in double digits for the Lady Tide with 11 points.
Roxie Wagner netted 11 and grabbed six rebounds for the Damsels, who also got nine points from Clarkson.
Mo Valley improved to 5-13 with the win, while Curwensville slipped to 1-16.
The Lady Tide visit Mount Union Wednesday, Feb. 5.
“I hope they understand this is what we are capable of,” Wheeler said of the Lady Tide’s play on Monday. “If we play like this, hopefully we can pick up a couple wins here at the end of the year.”
Moshannon Valley—52
Lily Switala 9 4-5 22, Alexis Clarkson 4 0-5 9, Roxie Wagner 4 2-2 11. Madison McCoy 2 0-0 6, Brooke Mihalko 1 0-0 2, Savana Walborn 1 0-0 2, Saige Hamer 0 0-0 0, Anna Acey 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21 6-12 52.
Curwensville—51
Kylah Wos 1 0-0 3, Briah Peoples 4 2-2 11, Addison Warren 1 4-4 6, Karleigh Freyer 8 4-11 22, Natalie Wischuck 2 0-0 6, Jovee Elensky 1 0-0 3, Jayda Gaul 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 10-17 51.
Three-pointers: Moshannon Valley 4 (Clarkson, Wagner, McCoy 2); Curwensville 7 (Wos, Peoples. Freyer 2, Wischuck 2, Elensky).
Score by Quarters
Mo Valley 15 12 7 18—52
Curwensville 11 12 10 18—51
LADY TIDE SCOREBOARD:
Date Opponent Score Record
12/02 @ Purchase Line 29 – 63 0 – 1
12/06 WILLIAMSBURG 19 – 97 0 – 2
12/09 JOHNSONBURG 38 – 40 0 – 3
12/12 JUNIATA VALLEY 22 – 63 0 – 4
12/17 CLAYSBURG-KIMMEL 38 – 49 0 – 5
12/19 GLENDALE 32 – 58 0 – 6
12/23 PURCHASE LINE 28 – 59 0 – 7
01/06 WEST BRANCH ppd. 0 – 7
01/09 @ Moshannon Valley 33 – 45 0 – 8
01/14 @ Williamsburg 32 – 99 0 – 9
01/20 @ Juniata Valley 21 – 68 0 – 10
01/22 WEST BRANCH 42 – 37 1 – 10
01/23 @ Glendale 32 – 58 1 – 11
01/27 KANE 26 – 55 1 – 12
01/28 @ Keystone 38 – 70 1 – 13
01/30 @ West Branch 38 – 56 1 – 14
02/01 D9 Showcase Game @ Clarion
vs. Clarion-Limestone 21 – 60 1 – 15
02/03 MOSHANNON VALLEY 51 – 52 1 – 16
02/05 @ Mt. Union
02/06 CRANBERRY
02/10 UNION
02/11 @ Bucktail
02/13 @ Clearfield