KARNS CITY - Many times in his tenure as coach, Josh Meeker has seen his Union girls basketball team have its hands full when it makes the trip to Karns City.

On Tuesday, those hands were wide open.

The Damsels outscored the Gremlins 24-3 in an 8 minute, 33 second span in the first half and coasted to a 78-38 Keystone Shortway Conference victory.

"For some reason, there's always been a jinx when we come in here," said Meeker. "But we really played well tonight."

Union took a commanding 20-6 lead after one quarter and a 47-17 advantage into halftime.

"We wanted this one real bad," said Meeker. "This is a rivalry. I said 'If you guys watch college basketball, it's like Duke-North Carolina. It's a rivalry regardless of the record.

"I think we came out right off the bat and took the fans out of it early and the team out early," he added.

"We knew this would be a possibility," said Gremlins coach Chris Bellis. "But, if we would have kept things close early, we could have been in it.

"Union is a good passing team and has a lot of weapons," he added.

Andrea Mortimer led the way for the Damsels (17-2, 8-0) with 25 points, including 13 in the first half, to help Union build its insurmountable lead.

With Union holding a 4-3 lead, the Damsels scored the next six points and 14 of 16 - capped by a pair of Tiffany Corle baskets - to open an 18-5 lead with 40 seconds left in the frame.

By the time the Gremlins (10-8, 5-3) scored another basket on a shot by Brittany Green with 4:23 left before halftime, the Damsels led 34-10.

At this point, seven different Union players had scored, including an additional seven points from Corle off the bench.

Meeker has figured out his bench's points compared to his opponents this season. Entering Tuesday's game, that number was 323-79.

"That shows you that the girls coming off the bench can contribute," Meeker said. "We're a lot deeper than most teams."

With a 38-10 lead, the Gremlins received a 3-pointer from Allyson Kepple and a score by Morgan Summerville, the latter with 1:46 left before halftime, but the Gremlins couldn't come any closer than 23 points the rest of the way.

It also marked the last time they tallied consecutive scores.

Along with Mortimer, Bethany Koch finished with 14 points and Corle had 11 points.

"You can tell Mortimer and Koch are the heart and soul of that team," said Bellis. "The other kids feed off them. All of their kids play hard. They don't give up much with the next player."

The Gremlins received 10 points by Allyson Kepple, the lone player in double figures but one of eight who scored.

With the KSAC title now a distant dream, Bellis is hopeful his young team can bounce back and keep the playoffs in sight.

"A positive from this game is that we need to start fresh, start a new season," said Bellis. "We need to look ahead and finish on a positive note.

"We'll learn from it, put it behind us and try and make the playoffs and go from there," he added.

UNION 78

Andrea Mortimer 10 5-6 25, Janele Divins 3 0-0 7, Bethany Koch 4 6-6 14, Molly Scott 2 1-2 5, Courtney Horner 2 0-0 4, Tiffany Corle 5 0-0 11, Kayla Hepler 0 2-2 2, Ally Toven 0 0-00, Makenzie Shirey 3 0-0 6, Nikki Davis 1 2-2 4, Danyelle Painter 0 0-0 0, Colleen Logue 0 0-0 0. Totals: 30 16-18 78.

KARNS CITY 38

Allyson Kepple 4 0-0 10, Haley Callihan 2 1-2 7, Jaime Reott 1 0-0 2, Ashley Fuhrer 0 0-0 0, Morgan Summerville 3 0-2 6, Tausha Bowser 0 0-0 0, Melissa Collier 1 0-0 2, Courtney Slagle 0 0-0 0, Laura Kepple 2 0-0 5, Samantha Pyle 1 0-0 2, Brittany Green 1 2-6 4, Kailyn Weibel 0 0-0 0, Mallory Craig 0 0-0 0, Brianna Markle 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 3-10 38.

3-point goals:

Corle, Divins; A. Kepple 2, Callihan 2, L. Kepple

JV:

Union, 48-31

Friday:

Union at Rocky Grove; Karns City at Cranberry

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