MEADVILLE— Karns City's vaunted defense finally met its match Tuesday night.

Her name is Raegan Moore.

Girard's 5-foot-11 sophomore guard struck for 27 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter, to lead the Yellowjackets to a 48-37 PIAAClass AAgirls basketball tournament win over the Gremlins at Meadville High School.

Moore is averaging 15 points per game and has scored 50 points in Girard's two state tournament games thus far.

"We put Tausha Bowser on her because Tausha's been shutting down top scorers all year,"Karns City coach Dave Kerschbaumer said. "But this girl had three or four inches on her and she posted her up at times.

"We tried every defense we knew. A triangle, 1-3-1, trap, man, ... Moore seemed to have an answer for all of them at times."

Girard became only the second opponent in nine games to score 40 or more points against Karns City.

The Gremlins (22-6)rallied from big deficits at the end of quarters twice. Trailing 21-10 with 3:50 left in the first half, KCscored the final eight points of the half.

Senior forward Haley Callihan scored the final six points, sinking a 3-pointer, a free throw and sticking back an offensive rebound.

A 3-pointer by Moore gave Girard (23-6) a 29-20 lead with 4:35 left in the third quarter. before the Gremlins scored the final seven points of the period Callihan sank three free throws, and Allyson Kepple and Bowser added layups.

But despite trailing only 29-27 with a quarter to play, Karns City never had the lead all night.

"We had possession a couple of times early in the fourth quarter with a chance to tie or go ahead,"Kerschbaumer said. "A couple of our shots rimmed out and they hit a couple of big 3s.

"We wanted the lead by early in the fourth because Girard runs a very good delay game and they were going to run some time off the clock."

After Moore sank two free throws to give the Yellowjackets a four-point lead, teammate Carlee DiFucci sank two treys in less than 90 seconds to give her team a 37-29 advantage.

She was unguarded on both shots.

"All year, Carlee's shooting 41 percent from beyond the stripe,"Girard coach Larry Seneta said. "She missed her first six from out there tonight.

"We needed to get her going because they were letting her go to concentrate on Raegan."

The Gremlins never got closer than seven points the rest of the way.

Karns City had a 29-17 edge in rebounding. Callihan had 14 points and eight rebounds for the Gremlins while Julia Zaludek added six rebounds.

"Our rebounds are what helped us get back in the game during those (second and third quarter) runs we had,"Callihan said.

The Gremlins suffered 20 turnovers to Girard's 10. Karns City had nine turnovers in the first quarter and turned the ball over on each of its first four possessions as Girard jumped in front.

"Their pressure right off the bat surprised us,"Callihan said. "We weren't ready for it. Once we settled down, we were OK."

Moore led Girard with seven rebounds.

"She's going to be a special player,"Seneta said.

He should know. Seneta has been Girard's girls coach for 22 seasons and averages 24 victories per year. His teams have been to the Western Finals eight times.

The Gremlins' loss ended the prep basketball careers of seniors Callihan, Bowser and Kailyn Weibel. Callihan scored 972 points in her career.

"They were great examples of Karns City basketball, on and off the court, and behind the scenes,"Kerschbaumer said.

GIRARD 48Alyssa Druschel 0-1 0-0 0, Courtney Byham 1-8 4-4 7, Danielle Hauck 0-1 0-0 0, Raegan Moore 8-15 8-10 27, Carlee DiFucci 3-8 0-0 8, Samantha Angelo 1-1 0-0 2, Kara Wilson 0-4 0-0 0, Elizabeth Rickard 2-4 0-0 4.

Totals: 15-42 12-14 48

KARNS CITY 37Tausha Bowser 3-5 1-2 7, Michelle Sweeney 1-1 0-0 3, Allyson Kepple 3-6 0-0 6, Julia Zaludek 1-3 0-2 2, Ashley Campbell 2-6 1-2 5, Haley Callihan 3-8 7-10 14, Kylee Rankin 0-0 0-0 0, Kailyn Weibel 0-1 0-0 0.

Totals: 13-30 9-16 37

Girard 14 7 8 19—48Karns City 6 12 9 10—373-point goals: Sweeney, Callihan; Byham, Moore 3, DiFucci 2