Basketball Recap: Conemaugh Valley Comes Up Short

Conemaugh Valley lost against Blacklick Valley back in December of 2024 and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Monday. The Conemaugh Valley Blue Jays came up short against the Blacklick Valley Vikings, falling 55-32. While losing is never fun, the Blue Jays can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania basketball rankings (they are ranked 606th, while the Vikings are ranked 253rd).

Gwen Masser

Rebounds

02/10/25 vs Blacklick Valley	9
02/03/25 vs Conemaugh Township	9
01/31/25 vs Northern Cambria	17
01/30/25 vs United	11
01/29/25 @ United	10
+ 3 more games

Despite the defeat, Conemaugh Valley saw an underclassman step up: freshman Gwen Masser posted six points and nine rebounds. Masser is on a roll when it comes to boards, as she's now pulled down nine or more in the last eight games she's played.

It was another big night for Kristin Szymusiak, who went 9 for 20 en route to 24 points and five steals for Blacklick Valley. That makes it five consecutive games in which Szymusiak has scored at least a third of Blacklick Valley's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Josie Nedrich, who put up ten points in addition to six rebounds and four steals.

This is the second loss in a row for Conemaugh Valley and nudges their season record down to 3-18. Their recent woes sure aren't a result of their performance when it comes to three-point shooting accuracy: their three-point shooting accuracy was 38.9% in those games and 23.6% outside of them. As for Blacklick Valley, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 12 of their last 13 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 20-2 record this season.

Coming up, Conemaugh Valley will head out to take on Glendale at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday. As for Blacklick Valley, they will square off against Turkeyfoot Valley Area at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday.