Karns City's Mike McConnell drives to the basket Friday as the Gremlins beat Redbank Valley 51-35.

KARNS CITY — Don't challenge Mike McConnell to a free throw shooting contest.

He'd win.

The Redbank Valley boys basketball team inadvertently did and the Karns City senior guard responded by sinking 11 of 12 free throws in the first half and 13-of-14 in the game to help lift the Gremlins to a 51-35 home win Friday night.

"He's been like that all year," said Karns City coach Steve Andreassi. "Every game he's been 8-of-9, 5-of-6, 7-of-8. Usually it's been in the fourth quarter."

But on Friday, it was in the first two quarters that McConnell did his damage.

By halftime, 13 of the Gremlins' 28 points came at the line. Redbank Valley had just 14 points at the break.

"They nearly outscored us at the free throw line in the first half," said Redbank Valley coach DonWanninger. "You can't put them on the foul line that many times. They're too good of a foul shooting team."

McConnell certainly is good at it, shooting 83.3 percent from the line this season.

He also was adept at dribbling through and around Redbank Valley's defensive pressure and finding the open man.

"I think tonight he showed he's a pretty good ball-handler. He made some good decisions, no-look passes," Andreassi said.

McConnell finished with 15 points.

Cameron Turner added 13 points and seven rebounds for the Gremlins (6-2, 4-1), who spent the second half maintaining the 14-point lead they built in the first half.

Karns City will not participate in a holiday tournament, but that doesn't mean it won't have a challenge.

The Gremlins will face undefeated Keystone, which sits atop the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference West standings with an undefeated record.

Meanwhile, Karns City is in second place in the jumbled KSAC East and Redbank (2-5, 1-4) is quickly falling out of the race.

"The KSAC East is not a good place to be right now," Wanninger said.

Girls

It's all about the ending for the Karns City girls basketball team.

And right now, Gremlins coach Dave Kerschbaumer isn't happy with the third act his team has been performing.

Karns City had a 23-point lead quickly evaporate to 11 in the span of just four minutes, but the Gremlins held off Redbank for a 56-45 home win Friday."We haven't learned to finish quarters or finish games yet," Kerschbaumer said. "We have to learn how to finish games the right way."Karns City has had no problem with the first two acts, racing out to a commanding 30-17 lead after two quarters.It led 49-26 early in the fourth quarter and most of the starters were on the bench thinking of last-minute Christmas shopping ideas.But Lacey Blose and Heidi Hepler got hot from the floor and the Bulldogs went on a 15-3 run to close the gap.It forced Kerschbaumer to dust off his starters and to put them back into the game."We relaxed a little bit," Kerschbaumer said. "That mentality left us for that time, and that's when they exploited us."Haley Callihan had 20 points and 12 rebounds in the first three quarters and finished with 21 points and 14 boards for the Gremlins (6-2, 4-1).Michelle Sweeney added 10 points, including three 3-pointers.Blose was a fourth-quarter force for Redbank Valley (4-2, 2-2). She led the Bulldogs with 16 points, including nine in the final six minutes of the game.Kerschbaumer saw a silver lining in his team's near collapse."It's a division win," Kerschbaumer said. "And in the new KSAC, division wins are huge."<B>BoysREDBANKVALLEY 35Matt Krafick 0-3 0-0 0, Joe Monteleone 6-9 4-6 16, Brock Reed 0-1 0-2 0, Pat Wasilowski 2-6 2-3 6, Doug Bish 0-0 2-4 2, Ryan Radaker 2-11 0-0 5, Mike Booher 0-3 0-0 0, Mike Dawson 1-3 1-2 3, Cory Toth 1-7 0-1 3.</B> Totals: 12-43 9-18 35<B>KARNSCITY 51Mike Senopole 2-7 0-1 4, Cory Terwilliger 1-2 2-2 5, Mike McConnell 1-5 13-14 15, Cameron Turner 6-10 1-6 13, Matt McConnell 0-1 0-0 0, Chris Harmon 0-1 2-4 2, Kody Craig 1-3 0-0 2, Dan Everetts 2-7 0-0 4, Kevin Beck 3-7 0-0 6.</B> Totals: 16-43 16-27 51<B>Redbank Valley 8 6 8 13—35Karns City 9 19 8 15—513-point goals:</B> Radaker, Toth, Terwilliger<B>JV:</B> Karns City 26-23<B>Thursday: </B>Karns City at Keystone<B>GirlsREDBANK VALLEY 45Heidi Hepler 3-5 3-3 9, Kim Goth 2-8 1-1 5, Nadia Kundick 2-5 0-0 5, Lacey Blose 6-19 2-2 16, Jean Gruver 3-10 2-3 8, Delaney Case 0-1 0-0 0, Alexa Shuster 0-0 2-2 2.</B> Totals: 16-48 10-11 45<B>KARNSCITY 56Tausha Bowser 1-5 0-0 2, Michelle Sweeney 3-8 1-2 10, Allyson Kepple 3-12 0-0 6, Julia Zaludek 3-4 1-2 7, Ashley Campbell 2-2 0-0 4, Haley Callihan 9-13 3-4 21, Kylee Rankin 3-6 0-0 6, Kailyn Weibel 0-2 0-0 0, Karyssa Callender 0-0 0-0 0.</B> Totals: 24-52 5-8 56<B>Redbank Valley 10 7 7 21—45Karns City 14 16 17 9—563-point goals:</B> Kundick, Blose, Sweeney 3<B>JV:</B> Karns CIty 46-11<B>Wednesday: </B>Karns City at Knoch Tournament

Haley Callihan of Karns City struggles to get past Redbank Valley's Kim Goth during Friday's game. The Gremlins grabbed a 56-45 victory from the Bulldogs.