JEFFERSON TWP — Lizz King paused to look at the scoreboard.

Burrell 10, Knoch 0.

Normally, that would be cause for concern for King and her Knoch High School girls basketball team. Giving an opponent a 10-spot is rarely a good thing.

Unless you are the Knights.

"It just made us mad inside," said King, who spearheaded a rally with her hot shooting that helped her team blow past Burrell on the way to a 61-45 triumph Tuesday evening. "We used that to score more. We shouldn't have been down."

But Knoch (9-2 overall, 4-0 in the section) was down — and down big. It took it more than half the first quarter to dent the scoreboard for the first time. It took the Knights almost two quarters to dig out from their early hole.

Once they did, there was no stopping the Knights or King.

Knoch went into halftime down 24-22 and was shooting less than 40 percent.

Yet, the Knights were happy.

"We were pumped, being only down by 2," King said. "I was like, 'We're going to win this game.'"

King took it upon herself to make sure she was right.

The senior guard scored 10 of her career-high 25 points in the third quarter as Knoch turned a two-point deficit into an 11-point lead.

The Knights were 10-of-17 from the field in the quarter, and King hit two huge 3-pointers that swung the momentum.

"When I guard someone and they score on me, I get mad and I feel like I have to score," King said. "If they score two, I have to score three. I have to score more than them."

King did.

She was feeling like she couldn't miss.

"There was a point when I thought that," King said, laughing. "But, honestly, I didn't know how many points I had. I thought I had 15."

The Knights led by as many as 18 points late in the game.

Sara Montgomery helped keep Knoch clawing away at the lead in the first half.

She came off the bench to score five first-half points, but she did most of her damage on the boards.

"I know she was over 10 (rebounds)," said Knoch coach Curt Vasas. "It's filling your role on the team. Whenever I ask someone on this team to do something, they do it, no ifs, ands or buts."

Abby Marshall and Pam Gagen each had 10 points for the Knights.

Nikki Becker paced Burrell (7-5, 2-2) with 17 points, with most coming on whirling-dervish-style drives of the lane.

Knoch had trouble at times with the Buccaneers' penetration and physical play on offense and defense.

It was an experience that Vasas said was glad his team got.

"They want to drive to the basket," Vasas said. "They want to draw a foul. They want to get to the foul line."

Vasas didn't make any defensive adjustments. Instead, he turned to good old fashioned bribery.

And some Knoch players will have pizza and ice cream in their futures.

"I gave them a little bit of an incentive to take a charge," Vasas said, smiling. "And now I'm going to have to pay for it. I don't care. Whatever it takes."

BURRELL 45Morgan Sharick 1-4 3-4 5, Kylie Cochran 2-6 2-2 6, Eryn Ciccocioppo 0-0 0-2 0, Katelyn Novak 3-7 1-4 7, Kacy Anderson 1-2 1-2 3, Nikki Becker 7-22 1-2 17, Taylor Myers 3-9 0-0 6, Shea Liput 0-0 0-0 0.

Totals: 17-50 8-16 45

KNOCH 61Megan Gray 3-7 0-2 6, Haley Hutterer 0-0 0-0 0, Abby Marshall 4-10 1-2 10, Pam Gagen 4-10 1-3 10, Kristen Gagen 0-0 0-0 0, Sara Montgomery 3-11 1-2 7, Sarah Cooper 1-3 0-0 2, Lizz King 9-16 4-4 25, Ashley Cetnar 0-0 1-2 1, Anita Hartzell 0-0 0-0 0.

Totals: 24-57 8-15 61

Burrell 14 10 11 10—45Knoch 9 13 24 15—613-point goals: Becker 2, Novak, Pam Gagen, King 2, Marshall

JV: Knoch 41-25

Thursday: Indiana at Knoch