Karns City girls fall to Seton LaSalle in state playoff tilt
KARNS CITY — It wasn’t a run in the traditional sense, but it doomed Karns City nonetheless.
During Friday night’s PIAA Class 3A first-round girls hoops playoff matchup, visiting Seton LaSalle used a gradual third-quarter effort to inch away from the Gremlins in a 66-46 outcome.
“We kind of got beat in our strength — and that was on the defensive end,” Karns City coach Steve Andreassi admitted. “We typically don’t let them get offensive rebounds. They did. We typically don’t let them get into the paint that easy. They did.
“It started and then it’s hard to stop.”
The Gremlins (18-9) were down by just two points 3:13 out of the midway break, then the Rebels’ Tiara Curry’s three-pointer widened the gap. Hanna Dailey sank one of two free throws on the other end, shaving the deficit to four before the guests’ Mallory Daly added another two shortly thereafter.
From beyond the arc, Addie Lonergan and Daly then replied to buckets by Karns City’s Hannah Buchanan and Naomi Venesky, pushing the Seton LaSalle (16-10) lead to eight. Brooklynn Taylor’s make from the charity stripe was the only other Gremlins tally added to the scoreboard in the frame, meanwhile Daly made a pair of baskets and assisted on another.
In a matter of 4:40, the one-possession gap between the teams widened to an 11-point chasm.
“It breaks down, then the lead starts going the other way, and we just start taking chances,” Andreassi explained. “Then we have to go full-court pressure. It’s just like an effect. It happens in a game like this when you’re not doing typically what you normally do defensively.”
As the contest got underway, the Gremlins powered out to a 12-0 run in the first quarter, taking a 14-4 advantage 6:30 in. The edge accompanied Karns City into the second frame before the first of four Lonergan treys put the Rebels ahead with 1:51 left in the half. Savanna Prescott crashed in for a lay-up on the following possession, then Lonergan sank another three-pointer right after.
That make gave Seton LaSalle a permanent upper hand.
“For some reason, we like to start off a little slow,” Rebels coach Jordan Giles said. “Then, as the game progresses, we pick up a little bit more and more. We really like to push the tempo and, I think at that point, we really knew to turn it up more. ... I think our girls really stepped up in the third and turned on that other notch.”
Daly, who led all scorers with 25 points, was the propeller.
“We knew everyone was trying to get to the hoop and No. 33 (Lonergan) was the only one not,” Andreassi said. “She’s going to step out and chuck. We just lost some girls in the mix. No. 2 (Daly), obviously, is going to be a Division I basketball player at the University of Buffalo.
“She was so quick and gets to the hoop. We tried to defend her with our help defense and she got through the gaps.”
Daly went into halftime with three fouls to her credit. She picked up her fourth prior to the final quarter.
“We needed to attack her,” Andreassi stressed. “We just could never get that ball in the block. ... A couple times, we had wide-open layups where she was coming to block the shot and we didn’t ball-fake. Just cerebrally, you’ve got to think about that and that’s what underclassmen have to learn.”
The two-time defending District 9 Class 3A champion Gremlins’ go-round comes to a close, but the coach hopes the experience pays future dividends.
“We’ve still got a young group that is willing to learn,” Andreassi said. “I can’t wait until the next couple years. ... We’re going to hopefully learn from it.”
SETON LASALLE 66
Mallory Daly 10 4-4 25, Tiara Curry 5 10-10 21, Addie Lonergan 5 2-2 16, Lexi Calabria 1 0-0 2, Niya Hatten 1 0-0 2. Totals: 22 16-16 66.
KARNS CITY 46
Brooklynn Taylor 4 1-2 12, Savanna Prescott 5 2-4 12, Naomi Venesky 4 1-2 9, Hannah Buchanan 4 0-0 8, Hanna Dailey 2 1-2 5. Totals: 19 5-10 46.
Seton LaSalle 10 14 27 19 — 66
Karns City 14 8 12 12 — 46
3-point goals: Seton LaSalle 6 (Lonergan 4, Daly, Curry); Karns City 3 (Taylor 3)
