KEYSTONE 50, KARNS CITY 47

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Jan. 15, 2008

By Chris Rossetti

KNOX – Cassy Hinderliter’s in-your-face defense as time wound down prevented Karns City from even getting a final shot off allowing Keystone to pick up a 50-47 win over the visiting Lady Gremlins in KSAC girls’ basketball crossover play Tuesday night.

Trailing by three, Karns City (9-7 overall, 6-5 KSAC East) caught a break when Keystone (14-2, 10-1 KSAC West) turned the ball over on a bad pass with 24.3 seconds left.

But Hinderliter, a senior, wouldn’t let Karns City get a good look let alone a shot in the final 24 seconds.

First, she forced a jump ball by tying up Karns City’s Allyson Kepple with 13 seconds left – the possession arrow gave the ball back to the Lady Gremlins.

Then, after the inbounds play, she got right into Kepple’s face and wouldn’t let Karns City’s latest 1,000-point scorer even get a good pass off let alone a shot. Kepple then tried to force a pass that was intercepted by Keystone’s Amanda Rodgers as time expired.

“That was just absolutely incredible,” Keystone head coach Bruce Turk said. “Cassy just refused to let Allyson get a look anywhere. It was just a great stand.”

It was fitting that it was the Lady Panthers’ defense that came up big in the end, because it was defense that won the game for Keystone.

On a night when shots just wouldn’t fall – Keystone shot 34.5 percent (20 of 58) from the floor, the Lady Panthers defense turned up the intensity creating 28 Karns City turnovers including 18 off Keystone steals. Eleven of Karns City’s giveaways came in the fourth quarter when the Lady Gremlins were trying to rally from what had been a 13-point deficit early in the third quarter.

“I didn’t think we caught a rhythm all night,” Karns City head coach Dave Kershbaumer said. “We just have to do a better job at protecting the ball than we did tonight.”

Hinderliter actually came up with a big defensive play, maybe the play of the game at the time, with just under two minutes left.

With Keystone holding a 48-45 lead, she stepped in front of a Karns City pass, intercepted the ball and went coast-to-coast for a layup that put the Lady Panthers up five with 1:41 left.

“I really think Cassy is at her best in the fourth quarter,” Turk said. “She turns it up a notch.”

While Hinderliter and the rest of the Lady Panther defense was good in the fourth quarter, the same couldn’t be said about the offense.

Keystone led by nine, 46-37, with 5:38 to play but couldn’t put Karns City away allowing the Lady Gremlins to close the game on a 10-4 run while turning the ball over three times in the final 2:39.

“By nature we are a pretty aggressive team,” Turk said. “It’s hard to rein them back in a little bit and take care of the ball. That is one of the things we have to do better at in close games. If we had done that, we wouln’t have put ourselves in a position where they had an opportunity to tie the game at the end. But I give them credit. They came back at us. It made it pretty tight down the stretch there.”

Keystone seemed on the verge of pulling away several times in the contest including early in the second half when it built its lead up to 13 points twice including 37-24 with 4:57 left in the third quarter.

But Karns City came back every time they got down and closed the gap to six, 39-33, at the end of three quarters.

“We kept digging ourselves a hole all night long,” Kerschbaumer said. “We would then recover out of it and dig ourselves another hole. At the end, we just weren’t on the same page. Maybe that is my fault.”

Sam Schwabenbauer led Keystone with 14 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals despite playing the game sick. Hinderliter added 13 points, two rebounds, two assists and three steals, while Kelly McQuiston came off the bench to provide a spark with eight points and four rebounds.

Ashley “Soup” Campbell led Karns City with 19 points and seven rebounds, while Kepple had 12 points, six boards and three assists.

Both teams are back in action Thursday with Keystone travelling to Redbank Valley and Karns City hosting Cranberry.

NOTES – Karns City shot 46.2 percent (18 of 39) from the field and outrebounded Keystone 34-28 … Both teams were lights out from the foul line with Keystone going 10 of 12 and Karns City 11 of 14 … Karns City used just seven players, while Keystone played nine. Keystone shot better in the second half (40.7 percent) than in the first half (29 percent). But the Lady Panther offset the poor first-half shooting by picking up eight of their 15 offensive rebounds in the half … There were no made 3-pointers in the game and only five or six attempted … Keystone remains a game ahead of Cranberry in the KSAC West while Karns City falls two back of Union in the KSAC East … Keystone came into the game ranked fourth overall in District 9 and third in Class A by the RRR Roadhouse D9Sports.com District 9 rankings. Karns City was ranked third in Class AA.

KEYSTONE 50, KARNS CITY 47

Score by Quarter

Karns City 6 16 11 14 – 47

Keystone 12 15 12 11 – 50

Karns City – 47

Taylor Kerschbaumer 1 2-2 4, Allyson Kepple 6 0-0 12, Hannah Beck 5 9-11 19, Katie Weible 0 0-0 0, Kylee Rankin 2 0-0 4, Maureen McGreevy 2 0-0 4. Totals 18 11-14 47.

Keystone – 50

Olivia Neely 1 0-0 2, Lindsey Rhoads 0 0-0 0, Natalie Hartman 1 0-0 2, Cassy Hinderliter 5 3-3 13, Britt Mohney 1 0-1 2, Amanda Rodgers 1 2-2 4, Kelly McQuiston 4 0-0 8, Sam Schwabenbauer 5 4-4 14, Caitlin Turk 2 1-2 5. Totals 20 10-12 50.

Three-pointers – None.