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Fast Start Gives Karns City Third Straight D9 AA Girls’ Championship

Karns City Girls Title 2016By Chris Rossetti

CLARION, Pa. – Karns City wasted little time in showing Moniteau who was boss, jumping out to a 15-3 lead at the end of one quarter on its way to its third straight District 9 Class AA girls’ title with a 40-23 win over the Lady Warriors Saturday at Clarion University’s Tippin Gym.

The Lady Gremlins held Moniteau without a field goal until the final 10 seconds of the first quarter and limited the Lady Warriors to 3 of 20 shooting (15 percent) in the opening half.

That helped Karns City lead 30-7 at halftime.

Karns City head coach Dave Kerschbaumer gave his thoughts on the game.

 

LeeAnn Gibson led the way for the Lady Gremlins in the first half with 10 points and five rebounds on her way to a game-high 16 points and nine boards.

Gibson, a senior headed to Slippery Rock, talked about the game and what it meant to win a third straight title.

Emily Hegedus and Mackenzie Craig each added eight points for the Karn City with Alyssa Gibson spearheading the defensive effort with six steals.

Behind Alyssa Gibson’s defense, Karns City created 18 turnovers thanks in large part to 16 steals and scored 13 points off the turnovers.

With the 23-point halftime lead, Karns City concentrated more on preventing Moniteau from scoring than adding to the lead as Gibson mentioned in her postgame interview.

That allowed Moniteau make the game a bit closer, the Lady Warriors outscored Karns City 16-10 in the second half. But the opening deficit proved to be too great.

GAME NOTES – Karns City has now three-peated three different times since 2002 winning three straight titles from 2002-2004 and 2006-2008 as well … The Lady Gremlins have won 11 championships in the past 18 years … Karns City shot 13 of 31 for the game (41.9 percent) including 11 of 20 (55 percent) in the first half while holding Moniteau to 20.9 percent (9 of 43) from the field … Moniteau did out rebound Karns City 34-30 thanks in large part to 14 offensive rebounds … Kristina DeMatteis led the Lady Warriors with nine points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Alazia Greaves added five points Emma Bair blocked four shots and had six rebounds … Gibson shot 7 of 11 from the field … Moniteau was just 4 of 14 from the free-throw line … Both teams move into the PIAA playoffs.

KARNS CITY 40, MONITEAU 23

Score by Quarters

Moniteau 3 4 7 9 – 23

Karns City 15 15 2 8 – 40

MONITEAU – 23

Kara Mental 0-1 0-0 0, Kristina DeMatteis 3-8 3-8 9, Alazia Greaves 2-8 0-2 5, Emma Bair 0-6 0-0 0, Sara Hull 1-9 1-2 3, Kelsey Ripley 0-1 0-0 0, Kennedy DeMatteis 2-3 0-0 4, Andie Arblaster 0-0 0-0 0, Cambrie Campbell 1-6 0-2 2, Megan Mentel 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 9-43 4-14 23.  

KARNS CITY – 40

Alyssa Gibson 1-4 0-0 2, Abby Wolfe 1-4 2-4 5, LeeAnn Gibson 7-11 2-6 16, Emily Hegedus 1-7 6-7 8, Mackenzie Craig 3-5 2-2 8, Alyssa Stitt 0-0 0-0 0, Emily Wolfe 0-0 0-0 0, Olivia Coyle 0-0 0-0 0, Brooke Moore 0-0 1-3 1, Olivia Mourer 0-0 0-0 0, Livia Andreassi 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-31 13-22 40.  

THREE-POINTERS – Moniteau 1-7 (Greaves 1-4, Bair 0-1, Ke. DeMatteis 0-1, M. Mentel 0-1). Karns City 1-4 (Wolfe 1-3, Craig 0-1).