CLARION — Echoing through the bowels of Tippen Gymnasium was the phrase "We are the champs" over and over again.

It came from the Karns City High School girls basketball team, who was an exuberant bunch after slugging out a 47-42 victory against arch-rival Moniteau Friday night in the District 9 Class AA title game.

The Gremlins certainly earned the right to bellow that statement after Melissa Collier came off the bench to give Karns City a huge spark and the Gremlins beat Moniteau for the third time this season.

It was the first championship for coach Dave Kerschbaumer, who took over the Karns City program from Chris Bellis before this season.

"Looking at those girls' faces, I said we are going to be a T-E-A-M," Kerschbaumer said. "I told them I'm right there with you."

Karns City (17-9) won the way Karns City has won all season, gutting it out for 32 minutes and finding a way — any way — to emerge with a victory.

The Gremlins used the same formula it used to topple the Warriors (16-10) the first two times this season: staunch defense and just enough offense.

Karns City held Alyssa Deal to 15 points and kept Kristin Baronetski, Moniteau's second-leading scorer, from scoring a point.

Part of that was foul trouble, as Baronetski spent half the game on the bench and attempted only three shots from the field.

"I don't think that girl in her great career at Moniteau has been held to zero points," Kerschbaumer said. "Brianna Markle did a great job on her."

Moniteau started the game off miserably, shooting 2 of 14 in the first quarter. But Karns City led only 10-5 after the first eight minutes.

The Gremlins suffered the same poor shooting woes as their opponent in the second quarter, making just 2-of-13 shots and found themselves down 18-15 at halftime.

"I talked about being resilient and getting through things," Kerschbaumer said. "I saw some frowns out there, and I told them to just keep it together and go out and play basketball like they know how to play."

Collier heeded those words.

She scored only four points in the first half off the bench, but she tallied seven straight points in the third quarter to turn a two-point deficit into a five-point lead.

The Gremlins never trailed after that scoring burst by the senior.

Collier recorded 14 points in the second half and finished with a game-high 18.

"Once I scored my first few layups, I got more confident," Collier said.

Karns City led 38-30 early in the fourth quarter before Moniteau tried to claw its way back into the game.

Deal and Amy Gladd were big reasons why the Warriors cut the lead to four points with two minutes remaining in the game.

Deal hit a running jumper and Gladd hit a 3-pointer to help the Warriors keep the contest close.

Both finished with 15 points.

Deal hit a 3-pointer with 5.9 seconds remaining to close to 45-42, but by then it was too late.

Collier haunted Moniteau again, this time from the free throw line. She made two foul shots with five seconds remaining to ice the game.

Collier was 6 of 7 from the line and the Gremlins were 14 of 16 as a team from the stripe.

"They beat us three times this year," said Moniteau coach Mark Yeager. "Kristin got in foul trouble. That's the thing with Karns City. When Kristin goes out, it messes up our matchups."

Karns City will move on to the state playoffs. Moniteau saw its season of promise end abruptly.

The PIAA takes only one seed from District 9 Class AA.

"I'm really going to miss these seniors," Yeager said. "From fourth grade on up they've worked hard. Kristin and I worked so hard together. I can't say enough about her.

"Alyssa, too, and Sara Vinca. I'm going to miss them all."

MONITEAU 42

Amanda Gladd 1-5 0-0 2, Kristin Baronetski 0-3 0-1 0, Amy Gladd 6-13 2-2 15, Alyssa Deal 6-15 0-0 15, Sara Vinca 2-5 2-3 6, Maura McCaslin 1-3 0-1 2, Kenzie Timlin 1-6 0-0 2. Totals: 17-50 4-7 42

KARNS CITY 47

Tausha Bowser 1-4 0-0 2, Allyson Kepple 1-5 4-4 6, Melissa Collier 5-11 6-7 18, Haley Callihan 4-8 3-3 12, Kailyn Weibel 0-0 0-0 0, Ashley Fuhrer 2-5 0-0 5, Mallory Craig 0-0 0-0 0, Brianna Markle 1-4 1-2 4. Totals: 14-37 14-16 47

3-point goals:

Amy Gladd, Deal 3, Collier 2, Callihan, Markle

Next week:

Karns City in PIAA playoffs