WEST SUNBURY, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Catherine Kelly couldn’t find her shooting touch.
Really, no one on the Moniteau girls basketball team could.
(Pictured above, Moniteau celebrates its dramatic, comeback win over rival Karns City)
Shots missed. Turnovers were made.
And rival Karns City built a big lead.
But down by 12 with a little more than six minutes remaining, the Warriors huddled on the bench during a timeout.
When they returned to the floor, Kelly and Abbey Jewart sparked a 16-1 run over those final six minutes to give Moniteau a dramatic 40-37 win on Wednesday night.
“Coach told us we needed to be more aggressive,” Kelly said. “We needed to take the ball to the hoop and get to the foul line. We just needed to keep shooting.”
Moniteau did. And they started to fall.
After shooting a dismal 4 of 25 in the first half and 7 of 37 through the first three quarters, the Warriors suddenly thawed out of the polar vortex they were stuck in. They were 6 of 10 in the fourth, including two huge 3-pointers from Kelly and one from Jewart.
Kelly scored 10 of her game-high 20 points in the final six minutes of the game.
It was a stark constant to the first 26 minutes for Kelly, who was a microcosm of her team — ice cold.
“My coaches told me at halftime that I needed to get out and just keep getting shots up no matter if they went in or missed,” Kelly said. “I just knew I needed to keep shooting if we wanted to win.”
Like most good shooters, Kelly has a short memory. The most important shot to think about is the next one she takes.
Kelly shook off her woes at the most opportune time.
“Oh, in the fourth quarter, you can’t ask for more,” said Moniteau coach Dee Arblaster. “We want the ball in her hands at the end of the game.”
Karns City (4-4) led from the beginning, jumping out to a 7-1 lead and taking a 21-13 advantage into the half.
Arblaster had an easy explanation for the poor start.
“Nerves. Nerves,” she said. “We were wound tight. I knew it was going to be that way. It’s been that way since when I played here.”
Meanwhile, Karns City started well coming off a 40-point loss to Redbank Valley just two nights ago.
That was encouraging for Gremlins’ coach Steve Andreassi to see after the Gremlins went into a deep funk against the Bulldogs after early success on Monday.
“My expectations were they would come out like this,” Andreassi said. “Did I know they would come out like this? Absolutely not. I saw a different look in their eyes in the locker room. I saw a completely different look Monday night. I saw a much, much better look tonight. I could see that focus.”
With that focus intact, Karns City extended its lead to 36-24 following a 3-pointer by Shae Pistorius with 6:35 remaining in the fourth.
The Gremlins appeared to be in complete control.
Then Moniteau (5-2) called a timeout and the Warriors emerged from that stoppage a different team.
Passes were crisper. Shots were on target. On the other end, Autumn Stewart came up with two huge steals on back-to-back possessions that led to points to get Moniteau back into the game.
“Autumn Stewart came in and did a great job,” Arblaster said. “That’s big. We talked to both her and Sophia Fleeger — that sixth-man off the bench is key and it was for us all last year. We need to find that and I thought Autumn did a great job.”
So did Jewart, who returned from the floor after having to sit for a spell in foul trouble and scored five points to help spark the comeback.
Jewart, who scored eight in the game and also had four assists, is kind of the glue that holds together the five junior starters.
“She just fires everyone up when she makes a big shot or a nice pass,” Arblaster said. “When she got hit with the fouls and came off, she was just a really calming presence for the girls. She’s really what’s holding us together right now.”
Forward Kendall Sankey didn’t have her usual offensive night — she was held scoreless — but she still came up with 10 rebounds and six assists in the victory.
Brooklynn Taylor was hot early for Karns City, scoring nine first-half points and finished with 11.
Emma Dailey and King each pitched in six.
Moniteau had Kelly guarding Karns City’s other dangerous scoring option, Chloe Fritch, closely all night and Fritch was held to four points.
Despite the loss, Andreassi saw plenty of positives.
“Losing by 40 points the other night to a team we knew wasn’t 40 points better than us was hurtful,” Andreassi said. “They smacked us. They beat us. They trampled us and we took it. Tonight we set the tone for three quarters. Being young and experienced and trying to mesh as a group, we made mistakes and we showed our inexperience. We’re trying to piece this together. That’s what December basketball is all about. I’m so proud of the way they handled themselves tonight. We set the tone this game.”
Karns City has a long layoff — the Gremlins don’t play again until Jan. 4 — and Andreassi said he and the team are going to use that time to get better at the things that have dogged it, especially this week.
“I can’t be disappointed in their effort, because they worked their tails off,” Andreassi said. “We outplayed them for three, three and a half quarters. We’re going to work on some stuff internally and work on new stuff. This was a new thing tonight. First time they played (a 3-2 zone) this year and we played pretty well for not knowing how to play it.”
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