Basketball Game Preview: Curwensville Golden Tide vs. Juniata Valley Hornets

Curwensville hasn't had much luck against Juniata Valley recently, but that could start to change on Tuesday. The Curwensville Golden Tide will host the Juniata Valley Hornets at 7:00 p.m. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both will really light up the scoreboard.

Last Friday, Curwensville came up short against Mount Union and fell 66-57.

Defeat or not, Curwensville got some senior leadership from Davis Fleming and Chandler English. Fleming posted 20 points in addition to seven boards and six assists, while English shot 4-for-7 from downtown and dropped a double-double on 20 points and 11 rebounds. That was a full 35.1% of Curwensville's points, marking the seventh time in a row he's had more than a third of the team's points.

Even though they lost, Curwensville smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 11 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in 13 consecutive contests dating back to last season.

Meanwhile, Juniata Valley ended up a good deal behind West Branch on Wednesday and lost 98-83. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Monday (76), the Hornets still had to take the loss.

Juniata Valley has traveled a rocky road recently having lost six of their last eight games, which put a noticeable dent in their 5-9 record this season. As for Curwensville, their loss dropped their record down to 4-7.

Curwensville might still be hurting after the 85-64 defeat they got from Juniata Valley in their previous matchup back in December of 2024. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Juniata Valley's Kyler Spurlin, who went 11 for 16 on his way to 25 points along with five boards and three steals. Now that Curwensville knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.