Curwensville dropped a pair of contests to Brockway on Tuesday, with the girls team falling 52-24, and the boys team coming up just short in a close 53-49 overtime decision.
(These articles were provided by our News Partner GantDaily.com.)
Brockway 52, Curwensville Girls 24
CURWENSVILLE, Pa. — Four games in four days this week would be on the docket for the Curwensville Lady Tide, as one night after hosting the Raiders of Brookville, it was the Lady Rovers of Brockway making the trip to Patton Hall. Already bound for the playoffs, Brockway would pose a big challenge for the Lady Tide, but still they laced up their shoes and tipped off for the Tuesday night action.
Although Curwensville kept it close in the first quarter, Brockway would pull away over the course of the remaining 24 minutes, taking home a 52-24 win and handing the Lady Tide their 11th loss on the chaotic season that has been 2021.
With no junior varsity contest, the game tipped off at 6:30 and stayed close in the opening minutes, as neither team found a lot of momentum. The two would trade baskets, with Curwensville at a couple points keeping the Lady Rovers on their heels. After the first eight minutes, Brockway held a slight 8-6 advantage, but would have possession to start the second stanza. It was then that they would begin opening things up, as Danielle Wood and Selena Buttery accounted for eight of the team’s 13 points. Defensively, the visitors would not make it easy for Curwensville to have any momentum, as the Lady Tide were held to a pair of buckets.
Heading into the break, Curwensville was down 21-11, and would never recover.
Wood got going in the third quarter, bucketing 11 of her game-high 22 points, while Buttery would follow close behind with 16 points. Buttery finished with a double-double as she pulled down just as many boards, plus added in five assists.
Meanwhile, the Lady Tide would only see three scorers the entire game, as Alyssa Bakaysa bucketed 14 points plus had nine boards. Skylar Pentz added in another nine, while Joslynne Freyer accounted for a lone free throw. Curwensville managed only eight successful baskets the entire game, as Brockway took away a lot of second-chance opportunities.
Curwensville (5-11) hosts the Lady Beavers of DuBois on Wednesday night. It will be a 6:30 p.m. tip-off as no junior varsity game will be played.
Brockway 53, Curwensville Boys 49
BROCKWAY, Pa. — After a loss to DuBois Central Catholic on Monday night, Curwensville’s next game on the docket would be an AML showdown against the Brockway Rovers. The 29-point loss on Monday against DCC seemed to fuel the Golden Tide’s desire to get one more win on the schedule, as playoffs for many teams loomed and the end of the season drew near. It had the feeling as though it was the final time the Tide would hit the court this season.
That seemed to ignite the Tide, and also the Rovers, as they would go back-and-forth the entire contest. One team would get a lead, then the other would answer back. Both squads would battle so hard, 32 minutes would not decide it. However, the overtime period would be the one to doom Curwensville, as they ran out of gas, falling to Brockway, 53-49, in what could easily be their best game of the year.
Early on, the Rovers would take a quick lead over Curwensville thanks to a pair of three-point shots by Marcus Bennett. After one quarter, it was Brockway with a slight 12-9 lead, but Curwensville would not give in.
The second quarter would belong to the Tide, as Ty Terry drained two of his five shots from deep range, scoring eight of the Tide’s 10 points in the stanza. Brockway was held to just seven points in the quarter, as their lead they had at the end of the first suddenly evaporated. Curwensville won the quarter, taking a lot of momentum into the locker room, despite the score being tied up, 19-19.
If the back-and-forth first half was any indication, the second half seemed to follow suit.
Much like in the first quarter, Brockway again had a slight hint of life in the third quarter. It was then that Lewis Painter found his groove, as he would drain six of the team’s 14 points in the frame. He would score a majority of the Rovers’ points in the second half, as he was held to a single field goal in the second quarter and scoreless in the opening quarter. He would finish with a team-high 17 points, one of three Rovers in double figures. After 24 minutes, Brockway held a 33-32 advantage, but the fire in the Curwensville coaching staff and the players was lit and now was burning like a raging inferno.
Although Curwensville’s high-scorer, Terry, was held in check in the fourth quarter, the Tide began relying on the rest of the team to get the ball in the basket. Terry finished with a game-high 23 points, but was held to only a field goal in the fourth quarter. That was when Danny McGarry would assist in going deep, draining six of his 13 points in the quarter, while Scott Condon and Trevor Lansberry made key foul shots to pull the Tide back in. Condon’s three foul shots would be his only points.
Still, the Tide would reel in Brockway, winning the quarter by the same margin as the Rovers did in the third. That one-point difference knotted the game up at 47 points each, and meant that extra basketball was in the works.
That final overtime period would see both Condon and Lansberry eventually see their exit as both would foul out. Lansberry would hit a field goal in the extra period, but that would be the only scoring Curwensville would see in the extra frame. A deep shot by Noah Adams, along with a jumper by Marcus Bennett and a foul shot by Alex Carlson would give the Rovers the decisive advantage to give them the victory. Both teams were worn out by the end of the night, but each acknowledged the other for the stellar performance, as did the limited amount of family members that were in the gymnasium.
Curwensville currently has a record of 3-13, which appears to be their final record as of now….
