KARNS CITY — If anything, it was a learning experience for North Clarion.

The same could be said for Karns City.

The Gremlins jumped out to an early 9-0 lead, only to see the young Wolves claw back to knot the score at 15.

However, Karns City ripped off the next 14 points and rolled to a 67-39 Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference girls basketball victory Monday.

"Mentally, we went out of it a little," said Karns City coach Dave Kerschbaumer. "There were a couple things we did not communicate on the defensive end.

"We did not play too bad in that stretch, though," he added.

A 3-pointer by the Wolves' Kelsi Zacherl and a basket by Angie Niederriter helped to force the 15-all tie with 5:22 left in the second quarter.

Karns City's Michelle Sweeney answered with a basket of her own 12 seconds later to quickly give the Gremlins (18-4, 15-2) back the lead for good.

Allyson Kepple sank a free throw to help Karns City amass 11 more points over a 1:57 span to take a 29-15 lead with 29 seconds left.

Kepple accounted for seven of the 11 points in that span.

"We've been up and down. We've been spurty all year," said North Clarion coach Paula Judy. "We haven't got to the point where we can maintain that for a whole game.

"We had opportunities, but we'd quit playing or hang our heads. A quality team like Karns City gets those spurts," Judy added.

"We worked on a couple of things and moved the defense around," said Kerschbaumer. "We changed to get our feet moving. It seems like when we play better defense, it leads our offense," he added.

With a 31-18 advantage at the break, Kepple continued the hot hand in the third quarter, adding 12 points in the first 5:38, including a pair of 3-pointers, to help the Gremlins surge to a 45-22 lead.

Kepple scored all of her game-high 19 points in an 8:04 stretch and did not play the final nine-plus minutes of the game.

The Wolves (4-19, 3-14) got no closer than 16 points (55-39) the rest of the way. At that point the Gremlins closed out the game on a 12-0 run.

Ashley Campbell added 11 points while Karyssa Callender added 10 points — all coming over the final 8:12 — to help pace the Gremlins.

The loss offset the performance of the Wolves' Jamie Zacherl, who had 17 points, 12 coming in the second half.

NORTH CLARION 39Courtney Cyphert 3 5-7 11, Jessica Tarr 0 2-2 2, Angie Niederriter 2 0-2 4, Kelsi Zacherl 1 0-0 3, Emily Beary 0 0-0 0, Emily Gatesman 1 0-1 2, Jordan Tarr 0 2-2 2, Jamie Zacherl 7 0-0 17.

Totals: 14 7-12 39.

KARNS CITY 67Tausha Bowser 2 0-0 4, Allyson Kepple 7 3-4 19, Ashley Campbell 5 1-2 11, Haley Callihan 4 0-0 8, Kylee Rankin 3 0-0 6, Michelle Sweeney 3 0-0 7, Julia Zaludek 0 0-0 0, Kailyn Weibel 0 0-0 0, Karyssa Callender 4 0-0 10, Audra Buechele 1 0-0 2, Katie Weibel 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 29 4-6 67.

North Clarion 8 10 14 7—39Karns City 13 18 18 18—673-point goals: JU. Zacherl 3, K. Zacherl; Kepple 2, Callender 2, Sweeney

JV: Karns City, 40-37

Today: Karns City at Redbank Valley doubleheader (girls, 6 p.m.; boys 7:30 p.m.)