Big fourth quarter by Strickland lifts Curwensville girls into D9 semifinals

DUBOIS, Pa. – Ciara Strickland scored 11 of her 16 points in the fourth quarter to help Curwensville rally past Brockway, 44-39, in the District 9 Class AA girls’ basketball quarterfinals at DuBois High School.

The third-seeded Lady Tide (17-6) trailed 29-27 heading to the fourth quarter and 35-31 with around four minutes to play before ending the game on a 13-4 run.

Brockway (12-10), the sixth seed, wasn’t without its chances late.

Trailing by two, 41-39, the Rovers sent Adrianna Terwilliger to the free throw line shooting two with 14.6 seconds left.

But Terwilliger missed both and then was forced to foul Curweville’s Hannah Dixon.

Dixon, who finished with 10 points, made the first free throw to extend the lead to three. She missed the second one, but the Tide grabbed the rebound and the ball eventually ended up in the hands of Strickland, who layed it in near the buzzer to set the final score.

Brockway started strong scoring 12 of the game’s first 16 points to take an early 12-4 lead.

But Curwensville ended the first quarter on a 5-0 spurt to close within three, 12-9, at the end of the quarter.

The game then remained close the rest of the way with Brockway leading 20-19 at halftime and holding the lead the rest of the game until the 2:45 mark of the fourth quarter when Curwensville finally forged ahead.

Juli Esposito led Brockway with 12 points, 12 steals, seven rebounds and six assists.

The Tide might have been able to pull away sooner if they could have it free throws, but Curwensville was just 12 of 24 on the night from the line. Brockway went 7 of 16.

Curwensville will take on Redbank Valley in the semifinals at a site, time and date to be determined.

CURWENSVILLE 44, BROCKWAY 39

Score by Quarters

Brockway 12 8 9 10 – 39

Curwensville 9 10 8 17 – 44

Brockway – 39

Adrianna Terwilliger  1 1-4 3, Katlyn Cappetta 2 0-0 4, Ashley Moore 3 0-0 6, Leah Lindemuth 3 2-2 8, Juli Esposito 4 4-8 12, Stephanie Spirk 0 0-0 0, Adriana Azzato 0 0-0 0, Leigha Pertz 0 0-0 0, Kaitlyn Morelli 3 0-2 6. Totals 16 7-16 39.
Curwensville – 44

Heather Thorp 1 4-6 6, Hannah Dixon 3 4-7 10, Christine Limbert 2 3-6 7, Ciara Strickland 7 0-2 16, Shauna Guy 2 1-3 5, Kayli Sedgwick 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 12-24 44.

Three-pointers – Curwensville 2 (Strickland 2).