DUBOIS — The third time proved to be the charm for the Curwensville Area High School girls basketball team as the Lady Tide finally advanced past the first round of the District 9 Class AA Playoffs by coming from behind in the fourth quarter to turn back pesky Brockway 44-39 Tuesday night.
The No. 3 seeds, who couldn’t get past Kane the last two years, made it a real head-scratcher for 16 minutes and a nail-biter in the final four minutes for their hearty fans who braved the wintry weather to show up at the DuBois Area High School.
Coach Rusty McCracken’s starting five survived a turnover-filled first half and a poor-shooting third quarter before coming to life just in time to edge the upstart Lady Rovers, whom they had defeated twice in the regular season.
Providing the spark was senior standout Ciara Strickland after her teammates kept Brockway from pulling away.
Hounded by the Lady Rovers every time she touched the ball, District 9’s No. 1 scorer had only one field goal until hitting a three-pointer late in the third quarter to reach the 1,500-point plateau for her four-year career.
Then, with Curwensville trailing 33-29 and less than six minutes left, Strickland took charge.
She drove for two, answered Juli Esposito’s two free throws with a 17-footer and drained another trey to put the Lady Tide in front at 36-35 for the first time since Hannah Dixon’s game-opening bucket.
Strickland immediately followed her bonus shot with a steal for a layup, and the scoreboard didn’t change again until Christine Limbert made it a two-possession game with a foul shot.
Dixon swished both ends of a one-and-one trip to the charity stripe to give Curwensville (17-6) a 41-36 lead, but Brockway wouldn’t go away.
Esposito’s free throw and Kaitlyn Morelli’s deep two-pointer trimmed the margin to 41-39 with 37 ticks remaining.
The Lady Tide missed four foul shots and a Lady Rover misfired on two attempts in the next 24 hectic seconds before Dixon dimmed Brockway’s hopes with a free throw.
Her second shot didn’t fall, but Limbert made sure Brockway wouldn’t get a last-ditch opportunity by grabbing the rebound, and Strickland made the final tally somewhat deceiving with a bucket at the buzzer.
“We knew they were going to play us tough,” McCracken said.
He didn’t think the Lady Tide would make it as tough on themselves as they did in the first two periods, when they shot not only 28.6 percent from the floor but also, and even more importantly, were guilty of 19 turnovers, many of them poor decisions on pass attempts.
“It looked like we didn’t even want the ball a couple times,” McCracken said. “We just looked sloppy in the first half.”
Brockway really didn’t take advantage, though, after Kaitlyn Cappetta and Esposito keyed a 12-2 run for an eight-point lead late in the first period.
The Lady Rovers misfired on 23 shots and had 16 turnovers during the hard-to-watch first half.
Limbert’s three-point play under the hoop and Dixon’s bucket left the Lady Tide facing only a 12-9 deficit going to the second period, when they got within one point on three occasions, including 20-19 at intermission.
Seven free throws and contributions by everybody kept Curwensville in the game, for Brockway had silenced Strickland, whose didn’t score until very late in the second quarter.
The Lady Rovers kept her in check by playing box-and-one, with the athletic Arianna Terwilliger the main chaser, and sending at least one other defender at her as soon as she cleared screens.
“They played her tough,” McCracken said. “She was trying to get through a crowd every time she got the ball. She didn’t get many open shots.”
Compounding the problem for the Lady Tide were the many possessions without even a shot because of turnovers.
“It was frustrating to see, but on the positive side, going in to the half one point down after playing so badly, I had to reassure the girls we were okay, we were still in the game,” McCracken said. “We weren’t comfortable, but we weren’t in a whole lot of trouble at that point.”
“But we didn’t come out in the third quarter and burn any bridges.”
The Lady Tide made only three of 17 shots but were fortunate that the Lady Rovers were plagued by turnovers after opening a 26-19 lead.
Curwensville pulled into a 27-27 tie at the 2:14 mark before Kaitlyn Morelli ended Brockway’s drought to make it 29-27 at the break.
Then, the Lady Tide turned it around.
“Credit to the girls,” McCracken said. “We felt if we could come up court with the lead, it would put pressure on them because they’re a young team, too.
“The big key in the fourth quarter was switching to man defense. We got a little more active and they weren’t able to get open shots as much as they had been.”
And Strickland made her presence known.
“Sooner or later, she’s gonna shake loose, and she got more comfortable with her shots,” McCracken said. “The other girls set some good picks, and she found some openings.
“When she hit that three that put us up by one and then stole the ball and put it in, those five points seemed to put a charge in us and kind of frazzled them.”
Strickland wound up with a game-high 16 points, and Dixon chipped in with 10.
The other three starters made their share of contributions.
Limbert hauled in 17 rebounds to go over 300 for the season, Heather Thorp hit four consecutive foul shots in the second period and had five assists and three steals, and Shauna Guy had several rebounds to go with three steals.
None of them came off the floor until Guy fouled out with 33 seconds left.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the girls,“ McCracken said. “They’ve done it all season, and we weren’t gonna change anything tonight.
“Winning a playoff game is a big step.”
In the semifinals, the Lady Tide will play No. 2 seed Redbank Valley at a date and site to be determined. The Lady Bulldogs ousted Kane 42-31.
The other semifinal will pit No. 1 seed Karns City, which had a bye, against No. 4 Moniteau, a 55-46 winner over Brookville.
BROCKWAY — 39
Kaitlyn Cappetta 2 0-0 4, Julie Esposito 4 4-8 12, Arianna Terwilliger 1 1-4 3, Ashley Moore 3 0-0 6, Leah Lindenmuth 3 2-2 8, Kaitlyn Morelli 3 0-2 6, Leigha Pertz 0 0-0 0, Stephanie Spirk 0 0-0 0, Adrianna Azzato 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 16 7-16 39.
CURWENSVILLE — 44
Heather Thorp 1 4-6 6, Hannah Dixon 3 4-7 10, Christine Limbert 2 3-7 7, Ciara Strickland 7 0-2 16, Shauna Guy 2 1-3 5, Kayli Sedgwick 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 15 12-25 44.
Three-Point Field Goals – Curwensville 2 (Strickland 2).
Score by Quarters
Brockway 12 8 9 10 – 39
Curwensville 9 10 8 17 – 44
Lady Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/08 | MO VALLEY | 61 – 45 | 1 – 0 |
| 12/09 | BROCKWAY | 67 – 46 | 2 – 0 |
| 12/12 | @ Ridgway | 42 – 36 | 3 – 0 |
| 12/19 | @ Kane | 46 – 51 | 3 – 1 |
| 12/29 | @ Clearfield | 66 – 40 | 4 – 1 |
| 01/02 | DUBOIS CENTRAL | 30 – 40 | 4 – 2 |
| 01/05 | WEST BRANCH | 58 – 37 | 5 – 2 |
| 01/06 | @ Johnsonburg | 60 – 47 | 6 – 2 |
| 01/08 | HARMONY | ppd. | 6 – 2 |
| 01/13 | @ Elk County Catholic | 25 – 52 | 6 – 3 |
| 01/15 | @ Mo Valley | 50 – 30 | 7 – 3 |
| 01/20 | RIDGWAY | 48 – 49 | 7 – 4 |
| 01/22 | HARMONY | 47 – 38 | 8 – 4 |
| 01/23 | @ Brockway | 47 – 40 | 9 – 4 |
| 01/26 | @ DuBois Central | ppd. | 9 – 4 |
| 01/27 | @ DuBois Central | 33 – 60 | 9 – 5 |
| 01/28 | GLENDALE | 50 – 33 | 10 – 5 |
| 01/30 | JOHNSONBURG | 38 – 51 | 10 – 6 |
| 02/03 | @ Sheffield | 63 – 36 | 11 – 6 |
| 02/04 | @ Glendale | 55 – 43 | 12 – 6 |
| 02/06 | KANE | 55 – 35 | 13 – 6 |
| 02/09 | @ Harmony | 46 – 40 | 14 – 6 |
| 02/11 | @ West Branch | 51 – 44 | 15 – 6 |
| 02/13 | CLEARFIELD | 51 – 28 | 16 – 6 |
| 02/18 | District 9 AA Playoffs | ||
| 02/18 | vs. Brockway @ DuBois 7:30 | 44 – 39 | 17 – 6 |
| TBD | vs. Redbank Valley |
