WESTOVER – The Curwensville Area High School girls basketball team kept undefeated Harmony in check for a little more than one quarter Tuesday night before the Lady Owls turned on the pressure and ran away with a 62-27 Moshannon Valley League victory.
The Lady Tide took an 8-4 lead into the second period, but the Lady Owls got several easy field goals off their press defense to forge a 26-15 advantage late in the half.
\”We played very well in the first quarter,\” Curwensville coach Vic Gearhart said. \”We were moving and active in our defense and stopped what they wanted to do, dribble penetration. We helped out on their inside players and denied some passes, boxed out well and rebounded.
\”Once they started to score in the second quarter, they put on the press. We turned the ball over and created some easy baskets for them. They hurt us in the transition game. The big thing was turnovers. We had 32.\”
The hosts, off to one of their best starts in history, never let up in the final 16 minutes, outscoring the Lady Tide 46-12 for their seventh win. They are 3-0 in the MVL.
Harmony, which has had three different high scorers the last four games, had three players in double figures, topped by Alyson Leyo\’s 22 points. Kierstyn Kruise and Makenzie Kruise added 14 and 10, respectively.
Hannah Walls scored seven points to pace the Lady Tide, which fell to 0-2 in the MVL and 0-4 overall.
Curwensville is idle until hosting Clearfield in a non-league game on Monday. The Lady Bisons came from behind to down the Lady Tide 41-36 last Wednesday.
Harmony won the junior varsity game 53-29 behind 21 points by Lindsay Neff and 13 by Makenzie Kruise. Courtney Bachelier led Curwensville with 13.
CURWENSVILLE — 27
Hannah Walls 3 1-6 7, Tess Bloom 1 1-2 3, Mindy Desmett 1 0-0 2, Alesia Bressler 2 2-2 6, Holly Fink 3 0-0 6, Jenessa Stiles 1 1-2 3, Jenea Stiles 0 0-0 0, Sarah Robb 0 0-0 0, Shayla Buzard 0 0-0 0, Ashley Bracken 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 11 5-12 27.
HARMONY — 62
Alyson Leyo 9 3-3 22, Megan Brink 3 2-4 8, Kierstyn Kruise 5 4-4 14, Emily Leyo 0 0-0 0, Christine Harkleroad 1 0-0 2, Lindsay Neff 1 2-4 4, Makenzie Kruise 2 6-9 10, Alaina Westover 0 0-0 0, Shandell Clark 1 0-0 2, Kerri Coble 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 22 17-24 62.
Three-Point Field Goal – Harmony 1 (A. Leyo).
Score by Quarters:
Curwensville 8 7 10 2 — 27
Harmony 4 22 20 26 — 62