CHERRY TWP — A funny thing happened to the Moniteau girls basketball team on the way to a doomed season.

It started winning again.

And again. And again. And again.

The Warriors’ latest conquest came at the expense of a depleted Clarion-Limestone team that was missing its leading scorer, Josie Stitt, playing with only nine healthy bodies between the varsity and junior varsity and starting three freshmen.

The result was a 66-5 win for the Warriors.

It was the seventh win in a row for Moniteau (13-5) after a stretch that saw it drop four of six, including a most definite low point in a 48-point loss to Karns City. Moniteau hasn’t lost since.

“I’m proud our team just didn’t fall apart,” said senior guard Alycia Brehm. “We realized we needed to come together and work hard. I was worried that everyone wasn’t going to be able to get past that game.”

Brehm, though, reached out to her teammates via text messages an hour after that loss when the Warriors were 6-5 and were at risk of watching their season come crumbling down around them.

Brehm’s message was simple.

“I told them we just need to keep our heads up. It was just one game and we can’t let it define us,” Brehm said.

Sophomore Alazia Greaves heeded those words.

“It sparked us,” Greaves said. “We went back to practice and worked hard and we’ve shown it in these last few games. It was a little wake-up call that we can’t slack off.”

Against the overmatched Lions (2-15), Moniteau led 20-0 before Clarion-Limestone scored its first points and then by a 55-2 score before the Lions scored again.

C-L committed 15 turnovers in the first quarter and 24 by the half as Moniteau led 49-2.

“We were playing short-handed, but we don’t make excuses, either,” said Clarion-Limestone coach Brad Frazier. “We have a lot of young girls who have never played together before. It’s just a matter of getting back into the gym and doing the little things day in and day out to make us better.”

Greaves led the way for Moniteau with 16 points. Stephanie McCall added 14 and Kristina DeMatteis 12.

Brehm had nine points on three 3-pointers. Brehm leads all Butler County area girls with 34 3-pointers this season.

Moniteau will have a week off before a tough stretch of games starting with a road date with Redbank Valley Feb. 6. The Warriors then get their long-awaited rematch with with Karns City Feb. 9 before a home-and-home clash with Keystone on consecutive nights Feb. 11 and 12.

“We have some big games coming up,” said Moniteau coach Matt Stebbins. “But since that Karns City loss, we’ve been taking it one day, one practice, one game at a time and they have really responded.”

McCall said this was the way she envisioned her team playing all season.

“It’s really important to us to prove to people we can do something,” McCall said. “To prove to ourselves that we are as good as we are. We’re really excited for this next stretch because we have faith in ourselves that we can do it.”

CLARION-LIMESTONE 5

Erica Hetrick 0-3 0-0 0, Paige Aaron 0-7 0-0 0, Oriana Walters 0-0 0-2 0, Olivia Shulling 1-2 0-0 2, Megan Kelley 1-10 0-2 2, Steph Garduno 0-2 0-0 0, Monique Monrean 0-3 1-2 1, Morgan Clark 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 2-29 1-6 5.

MONITEAU 66

Steph McCall 7-13 0-0 14, Alycia Brehm 3-7 0-0 9, Alazia Greaves 7-13 1-2 16, Kristina DeMatteis 6-6 0-0 12, Sara Hull 0-1 1-2 1, Kara Mentel 1-5 0-0 2, Cortney Claypool 1-2 0-0 2, Emma Bair 4-6 0-0 8, Cambrie Campbell 0-0 0-0 0, Alex Hartle 0-1 0-0 0, Bailey Hartle 0-0 0-0 0, Korynne Young 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 30-58 2-4 66.

C-L 2 0 2 1 — 5

Moniteau22 27 9 8 — 66

3-point goals: Clarion-Limestone none; Moniteau

Feb. 6: Moniteau at Redbank Valley