KARNS CITY, Pa (EYT/D9) — On the board in the Karns City girls basketball team locker room was scrawled a simple game plan.
Defense.
(Pictured above, Karns City’s Hanna Dailey, No. 13, and Chloe Fritch, No. 10, talk with Karns City girls basketball coach Steve Andreassi during a timeout)
It was the main emphasis in a rematch against rival Moniteau at home on Friday night. It was going to decide if the Gremlins would emerge with a win or leave the packed gym with another disheartening loss.
The Karns City players took it to heart, smothering the Warriors — who were without senior forward Kendall Sankey for much of the game after she crumpled to the floor with a right knee injury in the first quarter — on the way to a 43-33 win.
Moniteau scored just 14 points with a minute remaining in the third.
“I’m super proud,” said junior guard Chloe Fritch. “Our team was working hard the whole game on the defensive end. We knew our shots would eventually fall. We just had to be on point defensively tonight.”
The Gremlins certainly were.
Both teams struggled offensively in the first quarter as they slugged it out to a 3-3 tie after one. But after Moniteau moved out to an 8-3 lead, Karns City closed the half on a 15-0 run to go into the break up 18-8.
“The teams were hyped those first few minutes of the game. The teams were a little nerved up to begin the game,” said Karns City coach Steve Andreassi, grinning. “Hanna Dailey kind of started us off with a couple of 3s and a deuce inside. She had been frustrated and ready to boil over and tonight it all came out because we’ve been waiting for this from her.”
Dailey scored eight of her 12 points in the first half.
(Hanna Dailey)
She helped stretch that Karns City lead to 20-8 early in the third quarter before a 3-pointer by Abbey Jewart broke the 17-0 run.
By then, the hole was too deep for Moniteau to dig out of.
The Warriors got as close as eight in the second half, but poor shooting and Karns City’s dominance on the glass with Sankey sidelined was the difference.
“They dominated us everywhere,” said Moniteau coach Dee Arblaster. “We didn’t have anyone step up. We didn’t have anyone take control of the game.”
Arblaster wondered aloud if Sankey’s scary injury deflated her team.
Sankey did return to the bench in the second half with her knee heavily wrapped. She gave a thumbs up to the Moniteau student section and hugged her teammates.
The hope was that would give the Warriors a lift, and while they did play better over the final two quarters, so too did Karns City.
It was one of the better all-around efforts of the season for the Gremlins.
Karns City got 10 of Fritch’s team-leading 13 points in the second half to secure the victory.
(Chloe Fritch)
“As a team, we knew what we needed to do,” Dailey said. “We came out and we shut them down. It was pretty satisfying.”
Especially after falling to Moniteau in the first meeting, 42-38, after trailing by a large margin early.
Karns City felt that one was for the taking. The Gremlins weren’t about to let this one slip out of their grasps.
“I think we played with a chip on our shoulder knowing we should have won that game,” Fritch said. “We were pretty frustrated after that game.”
The frustration this time was on the Moniteau side.
The Warriors followed their worst shooting nights this season in a loss to Redbank Valley with another on Friday at Karns City.
Moniteau shot 20% from 3-point range and a shade under 30% in the game.
Karns City certainly had an influence on those poor numbers.
“We haven’t put together a defensive game like this one this year,” Andreassi said. “That was the key to the game. I also pray for Kendall and her injury. That was a pretty big blow to them. She’s an excellent player. But I cannot be more proud of what we did defensively to make them work and we saw that frustration from them.”
Catherine Kelly scored 15 to lead Moniteau, but the senior guard earned every single point.
“We had three different girls guarding Catherine throughout the course of the game and we did a great job on her,” Andreassi said. “She still ended up with 15. That shows you what a great player she is.”
Allie Pry added nine and Jewart eight for the Warriors.
Brooklynn Taylor also had seven and Naomi Venesky six for Karns City (7-3, 4-2 in the KSAC).
Moniteau (10-3, 4-2) will now face its biggest test this season going forward with its first real taste of some serious adversity this season.
The Warriors had won eight in a row before dropping the last two games in the span of three days. They will also fret about the status of Sankey, who is averaging 11 points and 15 rebounds per game this season.
Moniteau is already without another post in senior Davina Pry, who is gone for the season with a torn ACL.
“She’s going to be evaluated and we’ll go from there,” Arblaster said. “That’ll be a huge loss if we lose her for an extended period. She’s been dominant all year, very dominant. Without her we’re gonna struggle.”
