KARNS CITY — Andrea Mortimer searches for the words to explain how she feels about the current state of Union girls basketball.

She doesn't have to look long.

“It's sad,” Mortimer says. “It's killing me. It's so frustrating. So frustrating.”

Mortimer still vividly remembers what she calls the “glory days” of the program. Really, it was a glory four decades — in 40 years, the Damsels won more than 750 games and had just one losing season.

That has changed.

Union finished 8-14 last season and is 3-14 this season.

Mortimer, who scored 1,550 points in her career, is trying to do something about the precipitous slide.

Mortimer, who graduated from Union in 2006, is now an assistant under first-year coach and uncle Ken Mortimer.

Ken took over the program from Josh Meeker, who resigned after last season.

When her uncle got the job, Andrea Mortimer reached out to help.

“I just wanted to come back. I knew they had a bad season the year before and I was not a fan of it going down like that,” she said. “I wanted to help try to get it back to where it was.”

Andrea Mortimer knew nothing but winning.

She was part of teams that flirted with PIAA Class A titles. During her junior and senior seasons, Union was 56-5.

What she sees now is nothing like what she was a part of during her days in uniform.

“There are a lot of fundamentals lacking right now,” she said. “We need to go back to the very beginning and start from there.”

Ken Mortimer agrees.

He's only the fourth coach in Union girls basketball history.

Ed Jamison started the program in 1971 and won 382 games until he retired in 1992. Karen Davis took over and won 203 games in 10 seasons and then Meeker notched 207 victories.

Ken Mortimer may have the most difficult job of any of them.

“Andrea is trying to light a fire under them,” Ken said. “This losing — it doesn't work. When you come out to play, you have to come out to win, irregardless of who you are playing. If you are going to lose, we need to see effort on the floor and we're not even seeing the effort on the floor.”

Andrea hopes she and her uncle get the chance to remain and turn things around.

It's not going to be an overnight process, she said.

“I want to try to stick around — if they don't kick us out after a bad season,” she said. “I want to try to help it and try to turn it around.”

Mortimer, who played two years after high school at Penn State Altoona before she transferred to Penn State University, still keeps in contact with her former Union teammates.

All share her feeling about the program.

“They share my passion,” she said. “None of us like where it is at right now, knowing what we did and now where it is at.”

Both Mortimers are hoping to salvage the remaining schedule.

To do that, Andrea has a simple message for her team.

“Take pride in what you do,” she said. “Don't ever give up, no matter what the score is. We need to keep playing hard and don't quit.

“There are banners on the wall for a reason,” she added. “Don't be that team that brings it down. You have to try to motivate them the best you can. Push them.”