CLARION — With the championship plaque tucked away safely in her right arm and a smile wide and beaming on her face, LeeAnn Gibson relished the moment.

And the journey that got her and the Karns City girls basketball team to this point.

Three-time District 9 Class AA girls basketball champions.

“This is awesome,” the senior forward said. “We all knew if we played hard, we’d get to this point. We set goals at the beginning of the year. First it was KSAC, then in was District 9 and now it’s the state playoffs. It’s huge. We can’t be happier to win this for the third time in a row.”

Karns City cruised to this championship, jumping out to a 15-1 lead on rival Moniteau in the first quarter on the way to a 40-23 win Saturday at Tippin Gymnasium on the campus of Clarion University.

The mantra for this title was echoed more than once.

“Heart of champions,” said Karns City coach Dave Kerschbaumer. “This team has hearts of champions. They come every night ready to play. We’ve had everyone’s best shot all year long. We knew coming in, walking into their buildings, we were going to get their best shot and this team has held up. Hearts of champions. Put it in the headline because these kids have hearts of champions.”

Moniteau coach Dee Arblaster was hoping her team would give Karns City its best shot, but the Warriors struggled mightily out of the gate, missing their first seven shots before Kennedy DeMatteis hit the team’s first field goal just before the first-quarter buzzer.

The Warriors were 3-of-19 from the floor and committed 10 turnovers in the first half and trailed 30-7.

To make matters worse, Moniteau was in severe foul trouble with both Alazia Greaves and Kristina DeMatteis — its two leading scorers — hamstrung.

DeMatteis led the Warriors with nine points and 12 boards.

“We played poorly. Period,” Arblaster said. “I think the foul count speaks for itself. Horrendous in my opinion. It took us right out of the game in the beginning.”

Karns City (23-2) made a concerted effort on defense in preparation for the title game.

It showed.

“I thought the first one to 40 was going to win,” Kerschbaumer said. “We had some things we wanted to throw at them, and I thought we did a good job when the ball went up — we had bodies on them all night long. I think we frustrated them early and their confidence suffered when they missed some shots early.”

Gibson also frustrated Moniteau early.

The Slippery Rock University recruit scored eight points in the first quarter and finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

As one of three seniors on the roster — Abby Wolfe and the injured Brody Whited the others — Gibson desperately wanted to bring home a three-peat and keep a winning streak that has now reached 17 alive.

“We’ve all been playing so well together,” Gibson said. “None of us come out and expect to lose. Five-as-one.”

That five-as-one concept paid off as Moniteau was determined to take sophomore guard Emily Hegedus out of the game.

Hegedus, who came in averaging a team-leading 17.9 points per game, was held to eight.

“They took Emily out of a lot of things,” Kerschbaumer said. “That’s why I say five-as-one. The four others knocked down shots. Abby (Wolfe) hit a big 3. Mackenzie (Craig) had a couple layups early and Alyssa (Gibson) played great defense (six steals) and does what Alyssa does.

“Great team win,” Kerschbaumer said, tossing in the popular sentiment of the day. “Heart of champions.”

Karns City struggled in the second half, scoring just two points in the third quarter and only 10 in the final 16 minutes.

Moniteau (16-8) couldn’t capitalize on that with any offensive push of its own, however.

“You have to play better than that in a game like this,” Arblaster said.

LeeAnn Gibson said her team definitely took the foot off the gas in the second half.

“Honestly, I think we celebrated too much at halftime,” Gibson said. “We had a big lead and we kind of laid off on attacking.”

Karns City will now shift gears to the PIAA Class AA playoffs where it will face Carlynton, the fourth-place WPIAL entrant, Friday in the first round right back at its home away from home at Tippin Gymnasium.

Tip-off is 6 p.m.

Moniteau is also still alive and will play OLSH, the third-place WPIAL entrant, Friday at Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic.

Tip-off for that game is also 6 p.m.

For the Gremlins, it’s just another goal on their list.

“We put those goals up at the beginning of the year,” Kerschbaumer said. “And we keep scratching them off.”

MONITEAU 23

Kara Mentel 0-1 0-0 0, Kristina DeMatteis 3-8 3-8 9, Alazia Greaves 2-7 0-2 5, Sara Hull 1-9 1-2 3, Emma Bair 0-5 0-0 0, Cambrie Campbell 1-6 0-2 2, Kennedy DeMatteis 2-3 0-0 4, Kelsey Ripley 0-1 0-0 0, Andie Arblaster 0-1 0-0 0, Megan Mentel 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 9-42 4-14 23.

KARNS CITY 40

Alyssa Gibson 1-4 0-0 2, Abby Wolfe 1-4 2-4 5, LeeAnn Gibson 7-11 2-6 16, Emily Hegedus 1-7 6-7 8, Mackenzie Craig 3-5 2-2 8, Brooke Moore 0-0 1-3 1, Olivia Mourer 0-0 0-0 0, Alyssa Stitt 0-0 0-0 0, Livia Andreassi 0-0 0-0 0, Olivia Coyle 0-0 0-0 0, Emily Wolfe 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 13-31 13-22 40.

Moniteau 3 4 7 9 — 23

Karns City15 15 2 8 — 40

3-point goals: Moniteau 1 (Greaves); Karns City 1 (A. Wolfe)

Friday: Moniteau vs. OLSH at Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic, 6 p.m.; Karns City vs. Carlynton at Clarion University, 6 p.m.