Karns City girls clinch KSAC berth
CHERRY TWP — Music echoing inside, Karns City coach Steve Andreassi ducked out of the visitors’ locker room Tuesday night, his charcoal gray collared shirt drenched from a celebratory shower.
In what was essentially a KSAC tournament play-in, his Gremlins crew had just authored a 47-37 girls basketball triumph over divisional foe Moniteau (11-10).
“It’s basically, we put their backs to the wall and said, ‘What’s it going to be?’” Andreassi said. “We have the ability. We have this chance. Let’s just do it. Our seniors led the charge.”
In doing so, the seasoned hoopers led Karns City to its sixth win in seven outings and set up a date with North Clarion in the conference tournament.
“They (Karns City) came ready to play and we did not,” Lady Warriors coach Dee Arblaster said. “Period. End of discussion.”
Despite five Gremlin turnovers in the initial frame, Moniteau couldn’t capitalize. The Lady Warriors sunk only one of their first 10 shot attempts and ended up going 4-for-25 (16%) in the first half.
Karns City smothered the Lady Warriors, permitting them only 11 points before the halftime break.
“We tend to get a little frazzled when we don’t get out and get some points,” Arblaster said.
The hosts shot 2-of-14 (14%) from behind the arc in the first two frames. Arblaster would have preferred not to rely on the trey.
“We know they (the Gremlins) do a good job at taking charges, so we’ve talked about not driving in and going up for jumpers,” she said. “The more we miss, the tighter we get.”
Meanwhile, six different girls got on the scoreboard for Karns City (13-8), who opened up a 16-point advantage at the intermission.
“They played both man and zone (defense) against us the first game (a 42-36 home loss on Jan. 6),” Andreassi said. “We worked on getting to the hole against the man and that’s what we did.”
Andreassi added that the Gremlins have worked on their post presence for most of the second half of the schedule. Senior Brooke Manuel poured in a game-high 15 points, recording a good deal of her buckets from down low.
In the last five minutes of the game, Karns City weathered a Moniteau push that was sparked by freshman Sophia Fleeger’s three-pointer. Fleeger dropped in eight points in the last period.
“I wanted to start freezing (the game) in the third quarter,” Andreassi said, half-jokingly.
Manuel and senior Rossi McMillen sealed the victory with four free throws in the game’s final minute. McMillen bucketed 13 points overall.
Senior Victoria Pry totaled 12 points for Moniteau, which will miss out on the KSAC playoff but is locked into the District 9 playoff bracket.
“It was a great game for some of these younger kids,” Arblaster said. “A playoff atmosphere against a big rival. It doesn’t get much better than that.”
KARNS CITY 47
Brooke Manuel 6 3-5 15, Rossi McMillen 5 2-4 13, Abby Callihan 3 0-1 7, Cameryn Booher 1 3-5 5, Emma Dailey 1 2-4 4, Rosie Carden 1 0-0 3. Totals: 17 10-19 47.
MONITEAU 37
Victoria Pry 5 1-6 12, Abbey Jewart 3 0-0 8, Catherine Kelly 2 2-4 8, Sophia Fleeger 2 2-2 8, Davina Pry 0 1-1 1. Totals: 12 6-14 37.
Karns City 14 13 9 11 — 47
Moniteau 7 4 10 16 — 37
3-point goals: Karns City 3 (Carden, McMillen, Callihan); Moniteau 7 (Jewart 2, Fleeger 2, Kelly 2, V. Pry)
