Moniteau's Maura McCaslin drives to the basket past a Grove City defender Thursday night. McCaslin hit five straight foul shots in the fourth quarter to help the Warriors to a 44-36 victory.

CHERRY TWP — Maura McCaslin smiled as she hobbled off the court.

Her ankle smarting after a physical high school girls basketball game, the Moniteau senior had a hard-fought victory to celebrate.

McCaslin hit five straight free throws in the fourth quarter to help the Warriors gut out a 44-36 win over Grove City Thursday night.

"We expect that from Maura," said Moniteau coach Mark Yeager. "You have to take your hat off to her. She had a tough night shooting but she kept after it and worked hard."

McCaslin was taxed at both ends of the floor.

Grove City (1-3) paid close attention to the senior point guard on offense and McCaslin was given the unenviable task of shadowing Eagles junior guard CaitMcNamara on defense.

Few can slow McNamara these days, but McCaslin certainly gave it a try.

Still, McNamara ended up with 25 of Grove City's 36 points.

In a loss on Wednesday,McNamara scored 20 of the Eagles' 32 points.

"Right now she's the only girl I have that has any varsity playing experience," said Grove City coach T.L. Thompson. "We knew this was going to happen early on."

McNamara had all nine of the Eagles' points in the first quarter as the teams played to a 9-9 tie.

By the end of the third quarter, McNamara had 21 points as the Eagles led 29-28.

ButMoniteau (3-1) wore down Grove City and its star in the fourth to secure the victory.

Alex Guercio had a big final quarter for the Warriors, scoring back-to-back buckets to give Moniteau its biggest lead of the night at 39-34 and finished with 10 points.

McCaslin put the finishing touches on the win with seven points in the final period to finish with 17 points.

"This is (Guercio's) first year starting and she has been a pleasant surprise," Yeager said. "You can just see the look on her face: 'No one is going to stop me.'"

The key was stopping McNamara, who was 1-of-5 shooting down the stretch.

McNamara must carry the bulk of the load until Sammi Bell returns from knee surgery. Bell, a junior post player, is due back sometime after Christmas.

Thompson did see other players take more initiative, however.

FreshmanBrogan Foster had six points and Maddie Torok also showed glimpses, Thompson said.

<table width="300" height="275" border="0" align="right" valign="top" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><embed src="/assets/mov/BE612571212.MOV " width="320" height="250" autostart="true" loop="false" ></embed></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><a href="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/" target="_blank"><span class="style11">Requires Quicktime Media Player </a><br><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Times New Roman">Video by Brandon Gerthoffer</font></span><td></tr></table>There was nothing wrong with the defense for either team.Grove City point guard LexiCaporali wore Moniteau's Kathleen Harding like a second jersey throughout the contest. The Eagles' defense forced the Warriors into their poorest shooting night of the young season at 34 percent."We didn't shoot well," Yeager said. "But the girls played hard, tough defense."For Moniteau, a win like this is a steppingstone toward bigger and better things.After taking some hard knocks the past two season, the Warriors have designs on the playoffs and even a Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference championship."I don't know how we stack up against the rest of the league," Yeager said. "Hopefully, if we keep getting better, we'll be right there at the end."<B>GROVE CITY 36Cait McNamara 6-16 10-13 25, Lexi Caporali 0-6 1-2 1, Brogan Foster 3-8 0-1 6, Maddie Torok 1-4 2-4 4, Rachel Kurtz 0-2 0-0 0, Mariah Jenkins 0-0 0-0 0, Grace Bennett 0-1 0-1 0, Danielle Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Vanessa Sprando 0-2 0-0 0. </B>Totals: 10-39 13-21 36<B>MONITEAU 44Kathleen Harding 1-8 1-4 3, Chelsea Sellers 0-5 0-2 0, Maura McCaslin 5-10 6-12 17, Jenna McCorry 3-11 0-0 7, Alex Guercio 5-9 0-0 10, Chelsea Say 2-5 0-0 5, Katie Brehm 1-2 0-0 2.</B> Totals: 17-50 7-18 44<B>Grove City 9 8 12 7—36Moniteau 9 10 9 16—443-point goals:</B> McNamara 3; McCaslin, McCorry, Say<B>JV:</B> Grove City 46-15<B>Saturday:</B> Fort LeBoeuf atGrove City<B>Monday: </B>Redbank Valley at Moniteau