By Chris Rossetti

CLARION – Karns City, the District 9 Class AA girls’ champion, used a 20-0 first-half run to topple Maplewood, the third-place team from District 10, 58-31 in the opening round of the PIAA Girls’ Class AA Playoffs Friday night at Clarion University’s Tippin Gym.

"We played very well in the first half," Karns City head coach Chris Bellis said. "We had a little bit of a letdown in the second half but overall I thought we played well. I expected the game to be tighter, but the first half was the difference."

The Lady Gremlins (21-5) used the 20-0 run to turn an early 3-2 deficit into a 22-3 lead with 3:42 left in the first half. Maplewood went from the 5:05 mark of the first quarter until the 3:32 mark of the second quarter without scoring a basket, a span of 9:33. The Lady Tigers (19-9) didn’t score a point from the 4:01 mark of the first quarter until the 3:32 mark of the second quarter, a span of 8:29.

Lenore Watson finally ended the Maplewood drought when she scored an old-fashion three-point play at the 3:32 mark. But Karns City wasted little time getting the points right back on a three-pointer by Ariel Venesky that started a 9-2 half ending run that left the Lady Gremlins ahead 31-8 at halftime. It was the second straight game that Karns City held an opponent to eight first-half points, as the Lady Gremlins led Redbank Valley 17-8 at halftime of the District 9 Championship game.

Karns City got a balanced first-half scoring effort. In the first quarter, Emily Bly led the way five points off the bench helping the Lady Gremlins grab an 11-3 lead at the end of the quarter.

Then in the second quarter, Katie Kepple scored eight points including a 6-for-6 performance from the foul line, and Venesky also added eight tallies including two three-pointers.

In the third quarter, Maplewood started to find a little bit of a rhythm getting the ball inside to sophomore Addie Parker, who scored six of the Lady Tigers 10 points in the quarter. But Karns City countered with 14 of its own points in the third quarter to take a 45-18 lead into the final frame. Kepple was the hot hand in the quarter scoring nine point including hitting just her second three-pointer in two postseason games. Kepple has over 200 career three-pointers and is the all-time leader at Karns City.

In the fourth quarter the teams battled to a 13-13 tie with Parker adding seven more points for Maplewood and Karns City getting production from six different players.

Kepple led all scorers with 21 points, while Venesky was the only other Lady Gremlin in double figures with 11 points.

Parker led Maplewood with 18 points, while Watson chipped in with eight.

Karns City will now play Greensburg Central Catholic, a 73-55 winner over Westmont-Hilltop in the second round Tuesday at a site and time to be determined.

Maplewood 3 5 10 13 – 31

Karns City 11 20 14 13 – 58

Bridget Prenatt 0 0-0 0, Kaylee Kachick 1 0-0 2, Haley Marvin 0 0-0 0, Heidi Young 0 0-0 0, Abby Mailliard 0 0-0 0, Amanda Bancroft 0 0-0 0, Savannah Marvin 0 0-0 0, Kayla Ray 0 0-0 0, Addie Parker 8 2-5 18, Amanda Amon 0 3-4 3, Lenore Watson 2 3-3 8. Totals 11 8-12 31.

Laura Seyler 2 0-0 4, Jessica Smith 0 0-0 0, Ashley Craig 0 0-0 0, Stephanie DeVore 0 0-0 0, Katie Kepple 6 8-9 21, Amber Double 1 2-2 4, Alicia Kerschbaumer 3 0-0 7, Jamie Reott 0 0-0 0, Ariel Venesky 4 1-4 11, Emily Bly 2 2-4 6, Morgan Summerville 1 0-0 3, Brittany Green 0 0-0 0, Haley Callihan 1 0-0 2. Totals 20 13-19 58.

THREE-POINTERS: Maplewood 1 (Watson). Karns City 5 (Venesky 2, Kepple, Kerschbaumer, Summerville).