Youthful Karns City girls hold back Wolves
KARNS CITY — Karns City girls basketball coach Dave Kerschbaumer has a young and inexperienced team, so he expects his players to learn on the fly.
In Wednesday's Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference opener against North Clarion, consider it Lesson No. 1: when you have a team on the ropes, you have to finish it off.
The Gremlins jumped out to an 11-0 lead, but couldn't gain complete separation from the Wolves, seeing a 14-point lead drop to six points with 2:46 remaining, but the Gremlins were able to pull away with a 49-37 victory.
"We're young and inexperienced, and that's a good learning experience," said Kerschbaumer. "It shows you need that knockout punch when you're up by 12. You need to keep going and get 17 or 18 points."
The Gremlins enjoyed a 39-27 lead early in the fourth quarter before North Clarion went on an 8-2 run in a 5:23 span to slice the deficit to 41-35 with 2:46 remaining.
Six seconds later, the Gremlins' Kylee Rankin sank two free throws before Emily Gatesman answered with two of her own with 2:16 remaining.
Following a North Clarion timeout, the Gremlins finished the game by scoring the final six points, including a pair of baskets and a key defensive rebound by sophomore Maureen McGreevy.
"What hurt us was the run at the start of the game," said Wolves coach Paula Judy. "This team has been beaten in the past and they kinda don't get it. They want to be there, but they've got to keep coming.
"When we were down six, it still looked like we were down by 20,"she added.
The Gremlins (2-1, 1-0) scored the first 11 points in the first four minutes of the game, the first nine coming in a 78-second span.
North Clarion (1-2, 0-1) cut it to six points, at 17-11, when Jordan Tarr drained a 3-pointer with 6:35 left in the second quarter, but the Gremlins countered by scoring eight of the next nine points to take a 25-12 lead.
Karns City held a 28-17 halftime advantage, with 15 points coming from forward Ashley Campbell.
North Clarion used two more 8-2 runs, one in the third quarter and one in the fourth, to keep close to the Gremlins. The latter run made it a 41-35 game with 2:46 to go.
"I thought after we got that lead, we'd keep things going, but I think we got soft and relaxed a bit," said Kerschbaumer. "I don't know if we're a good enough team to relax on anyone. We're trying to play 32 minutes a game."
Campbell finished the game with 19 points while Allyson Kepple added 14. North Clarion was led by Gatesman's 12 points.
NORTH CLARION 37Emily Beary 2 0-0 4, Jamie Zacherl 2 1-2 5, Kelsie Zacherl 1 0-0 3, Karlee Cyphert 1 1-2 3, Jess Tarr 3 1-2 7, Jordan Tarr 1 0-0 3, Lacey Niederriter 0 0-0 0, Emily Gatesman 4 4-10 12.
Totals: 14 7-16 37.
KARNS CITY49Allyson Kepple 5 2-2 14, Hannah Beck 0 0-0 0, Ashley Campbell 9 1-1 19, Katie Weibel 0 0-0 0, Kylee Rankin 0 3-4 3, Taylor Kerschbaumer 0 0-0 0, Caitlin Davis 1 0-0 2, Maureen McGreevy 5 1-1 11.
Totals: 20 7-8 49.
North Clarion 8 9 10 10—37Karns City 17 11 9 12—493-point goals: K. Zacherl, Jo. Tarr; Kepple 2
JV: Karns City, 31-19
Friday: Karns City at Union
