CHERRY TWP — On Jan. 3 the Moniteau girls basketball team was sitting at 2-8 and a lost season was staring the Warriors in the face.

Then Moniteau got a big one-point win over Brookville.

The victories started coming.

And so, too, confidence.

Guts came next.

The Warriors struggled against a staunch A-C Valley defense for much of the evening Friday night, but used an 11-2 run to snag the lead for good late in the fourth quarter on the way to a 48-44 home win over the Falcons.

“It feels good to win a game like this,” said junior forward Aslyn Pry, who scored 17 points and also grabbed 15 rebounds. “We didn't start out great and we knew we were going to have to find a way to pull it out at the end and we did that. It didn't look great, but it felt great to win.”

“It's encouraging,” added Moniteau coach Dee Arblaster.

Moniteau (6-9) has now won four out of five since that poor start.

The latest victory was by no means easy.

A-C Valley (3-9) has one of the best defenses around and showed that off for much of the game.

The Falcons have only given up 50 or more points twice this season, to North Clarion and state-ranked Grove City.

A-C Valley held Moniteau to 20 points in the first half and led by a point at the break.

“We've done a really good job all year,” said A-C Valley coach Dave Sherman. “Our defensive effort is always good. Going into a game, I never worry about defense. I worry about what we are going to do at the other end and we're slowly getting there.”

Rachel Cullen and Baylee Blauser have shown signs of life on offense and that continued against Moniteau Friday.

Cullen scored 18 points — 14 coming in the second half while playing in foul trouble — and Blauser finished with 11.

“Rachel works very hard. She's sort of been thrust into the point guard role with this group and I don't think she really wanted to be,” Sherman said. “Usually your best ball-handler, guess what, you're the point guard. She'd rather be out on the wing.

“Baylee is a state medalist (in the long jump last spring as a freshman) and she's a slasher,” Sherman added. “She's fast and she can elevate. She's just a very athletic kid and they are just going to keep getting better.”

Their efforts weren't enough, however.

Instead, it was Kristin Auvil, Aslyn Pry and Haley Pry who helped Moniteau gut out a triumph.

Auvil scored eight of her 12 points in the fourth quarter and was 6-of-8 from the line, Aslyn Pry also scored eight and Haley Pry sank two key free throws with 29 seconds remaining to help secure the victory.

Moniteau scored 20 points alone in the fourth after scoring just 28 in the first three quarters.

Aslyn Pry put the Warriors up for good, 41-40, with a steal and layup with three minutes left in the game.

“Haley Pry stepped up big with two huge foul shots,” Arblaster said. “Kristin Auvil the same thing. That's the two girls we want to have the ball late.”

Now Moniteau is thinking a strong finish can get it in position for big things come February.

The Warriors will get a boon when Ivie Scott returns to action next week. The guard suffered a concussion in the first game of the season that lingered.

She was finally cleared Friday.

“That will be huge,” Arblaster said. “She brings rebounding, keeps our offense flowing, she's fast, she's good defensively. It'll make matching up against us a lot harder for people.”

A-C VALLEY 44

Rachel Cullen 8-17 2-2 18, Mia Sherman 0-2 0-0 0, Andrea Meals 4-10 0-0 8, Meah Ielase 0-3 3-4 3, Baylee Blauser 5-12 1-2 11, Avah Burke 1-8 1-3 4, Paige Klingler 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 18-53 7-11 44.

MONITEAU 48

Kristin Auvil 2-7 6-8 12, Abby Rottman 3-10 1-2 7, Haley Pry 3-4 4-4 10, Aslyn Pry 7-14 3-8 17, Kaitee Chesonis 1-6 0-0 2, Zoey Hillwig 0-0 0-0 0, Victoria Pry 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 16-41 14-22 48.

A-C Valley 11 10 13 10 — 44

Moniteau12 8 8 20 — 48

3-point goals: A-C Valley 1 (Burke); Moniteau 2 (Auvil 2)

Tuesday: Clarion at A-C Valley; Moniteau at Forest Area