CRANBERRY TWP — The seeds of this Moniteau girls basketball loss may have be sown a month ago.

The Warriors rolled into the playoffs with a pair of impressive wins to cap the regular season, but had to press pause for two full weeks before the District 9 Class AA postseason began.

“We just never got our rhythm back,” said Moniteau coach Dee Arblaster.

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart never let the Warriors get into any rhythm Friday night in the first round of the PIAA Class AA playoffs, jumping out to a 10-2 lead and cruising to a 44-30 win at Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic.

Moniteau (16-9) struggled shooting from outside the paint again, hitting just 3 of 15 away from the basket.

The Warriors were coming of a district championship game loss in which they shot 22 percent from the field.

“We didn't shoot well — again,” Arblaster said. “It's been a problem for us lately and it's not like it's something we haven't worked on.”

Kristina DeMatteis scored 21 of Moniteau's 30 points.

The junior forward scored all eight points for the Warriors in the first quarter and 12 of the 14 at the half as Moniteau trailed 24-14.

“I have to give (DeMatteis) a lot of credit,” said OLSH coach Don Eckerle. “She found a way to continue to score against us. She had a really nice game.”

Courtney Alexander had a nice game for OLSH with 17 points. She helped spur a 16-4 stretch that ballooned the Chargers' lead to 40-18 at a minute into the fourth quarter.

Alexander, an Indiana (Pa.) University recruit, went over 1,000 points in her career in the victory.

“Courtney is our go-to player,” Eckerle said. “She's had a great year for us and interestingly she went over 1,000 points tonight. We're pretty proud of that. We're a team that shares the ball a lot, so for someone to be able to score 1,000 points in her career, it doesn't happen all that often.”

Bri Van Volkenburg also had a big game for OLSH (22-4) with three 3-pointers and 15 points.

The Chargers' press was also difficult for Moniteau to handle.

“They're very disciplined and athletic,” Arblaster said. “They're a good team. But I though we played pretty well. I was proud of the way our girls played.”

Moniteau made things a little interesting late with a 12-2 run that cut the lead to 12, but the Warriors simply ran out of time.

“We had built the lead and tried to sit on the ball a little bit,” Eckerle said. “To (Moniteau's) credit, they kept working at it.”

Arblaster is looking forward to a full offseason to work with her team.

She was hired in late November after Matt Stebbins resigned. The 1984 Moniteau graduate also coached the Warriors from 1993-2001.

“I was handed a good team. All I tried to do was keep them going,” Arblaster said. “I didn't make very many changes because they were going well as it was.”

Arblaster will only lose two seniors — Kara Mentel and Kelsey Ripley.

“We'll add some things to adjust to the players we have,” Arblaster said. “We're going to try to find a true point guard so we can move (Alazia Greaves) back to her natural position of shooting guard or a three spot where she excels. She did very well at point guard, but it's not her forte.”

MONITEAU 30

Kara Mentel 0-0 0-0 0, Kristina DeMatteis 10-14 1-4 21, Alazia Greaves 2-8 0-0 4, Sara Hull 0-1 2-2 2, Emma Bair 1-4 0-0 3, Kennedy DeMatteis 0-0 0-0 0, Cabrie Campbell 0-1 0-0, Kelsey Ripley 0-1 0-0 0, Izzy Bair 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 13-29 3-6 30.

OLSH 44

Courtney Alexander 7-21 2-2 17, Rachel Cummings 1-3 0-0 2, Anna Lohmann 3-11 2-2 8, Bella Marra 1-8 0-1 2, Bri Van Volkenburg 3-9 3-4 15, Courtney Cyrilla 0-1 1-2 1, Ashley Norling 0-1 0-0 0, Maddie Hoff 0-0 0-0 0, Toni Magnelli 0-0 0-0 0, Jocelyn Nagy 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 16-55 8-11 44.

Moniteau 8 6 4 12 — 30

OLSH15 9 13 7 — 44

3-point goals: Moniteau 1 (E. Bair); OLSH 4 (Alexander, Van Volkenburg 3