KARNS CITY — Coming off a tough loss to Redbank Valley last week, Karns City coach Dave Kerschbaumer was hoping for a bounce-back game for his team.

They may have found it on Wednesday.

The Gremlins used an early 11-0 run, then used a 12-2 spurt bridging the first and second quarter to take a commanding lead en route to a 50-22 girls basketball victory over West Forest.

“We needed one to get our confidence back,” Kerschbaumer said. “We wanted to get our offense going early in the first quarter, pushing the ball more than we have in the past.”

Karns City (6-3) did just that, turning a 2-0 deficit into an 11-2 lead in a 2:18 span.

Annie Hegedus — who scored a game-high 21 points — accounted for the first five on a basket and 3-pointers, the latter which gave the Gremlins the lead for good.

Karns City held a 17-8 advantage after the first quarter, but consecutive 3-pointers by Emily LoPresti and Hegedus to open the period bumped the lead up to 15 points.

Mikaela Bean and Jill Wallace answered with scores to pull the Indians (3-6) to 11 points, 23-12 with 5:48 before the break, but they would pull no closer.

“Teams have been doing different things and the kids understand what to do,” Kerschbaumer said. “Losing Shanel (Preston, out for the year with a knee injury two weeks ago) kind of got us out of our rhythm for a bit, but the confidence is growing from this group.”

Any chance West Forest might have had coming out in the second half evaporated when the Gremlins blanked the Indians 12-0 in the third period and scoring the first five points of the fourth quarter for its biggest lead of the night, 50-16.

“Our defense has been solid all year,” Kerschbaumer said. “Teams have not scored a lot against us ... We wanted to be in good solid positions more than anything.”

“We just played really well tonight,” Hegedus said. “Everything went smooth and we didn’t stop.”

The loss of Preston may have slowed the Gremlins a bit, but the experience other players will receive will pay off down the road.

“With Shanel, we thought we were going to have a great season,” Hegedus said. “But, we had to lift our heads up and push through.”

“It’s good to see them play well without her,” Kerschbaumer noted. “She was 10 to 15 shots per game and defensively, she was our anchor in the middle.

“The kids knew they had to play through this,” he added.

The Gremlins also received nine points from LoPresti and eight apiece from Emily Schumacher and LeAnn Gibson. Wallace led the Indians with 10 points.

WEST FOREST 22

Jill Wallace 3 4-6 10, Mikaela Bean 2 0-0 4, Samantha Dubrawka 0 0-0 0, Amber Wagner 0 2-2 2, Richele Botzer 1 0-0 2, Morgan Silvis 1 0-0 2, Renee Ei 0 0-0 0, Alexis Schwab 1 0-0 2, Sarah Burke 0 0-0 0, Libby Davis 0 0-1 0, Carrie Miller 0 0-0 0. Totals: 8 6-9 22.

KARNS CITY 50

Leah McGuire 1 0-0 2, Emily Schumacher 4 0-0 8, Annie Hegedus 8 2-2 21, Emily LoPresti 4 0-0 9, LeAnn Gibson 3 2-8 8, Le Erin Jones 0 0-0 0, Saydie Moore 1 0-0 2, Brittany Coyle 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21 4-10 50.

West Forest 8 8 0 6—22

Karns City17 16 12 5—50

3-point goals: Karns City 4 (Hegedus 3, LoPresti)

JV: Karns City, 29-16

Friday: North Clarion at Karns City