KARNS CITY — The specter of the “52-4 game” hung over both the Karns City and Moniteau girls basketball teams Monday night.

A month ago, the Gremlins routed the Warriors by 48 points and that lopsided score has festered and simmered since.

“I think I was as tired of hearing about 52-4 as they were,” said Karns City coach Dave Kerschbaumer.

Less than three minutes into the rematch at Karns City High School Monday night, it was beginning to look like a sequel.

Karns City led 10-0 with 5:30 still left on the first-quarter clock. Shanel Preston had eight of those points and the Warriors were reeling.

“It was kind of like reliving the last time,” said Moniteau coach Matt Stebbins.

Only this script was a bit different. The final credits rolled with the same outcome, but the plot had Moniteau fighting back to cut the Karns City lead to two points in the second quarter before the Gremlins pulled away for a 47-31 win.

“I was happy with the girls and they played hard,” Stebbins said. “We have to still tweak some things, but we're a lot better than we were the first time we played them.”

Karns City (18-3, 8-1) was ready for a battle and entered it without one of its bigger stars.

LeeAnn Gibson, the defending co-Butler Eagle Girls Player of the Year, broke a finger early in a rout of Clarion-Limestone Saturday and was scheduled for surgery today.

It is unknown how long she will be out.

Gibson was in full uniform, but was a mere spectator.

“We said at the beginning of the game this one was for LeeAnn,” an emotional Preston said after the game. “And it was. I told LeeAnn I was playing for her.”

Preston knows all too well what Gibson is going through. As a sophomore, Preston tore her ACL and was lost for the season.

She finished with a game-high 24 points against the Warriors.

Preston hit some big shots throughout the contest to keep Moniteau at bay.

“Shanel knocked some big shots down, but everyone who came onto the court tonight gave us minutes, it didn't matter if it was two minutes or five minutes,” Kerschbaumer said.

Saydie Moore and LeErin Jones came off the bench to get key rebounds and steals in relief of Alyssa Gibson and Emily LoPresti, who were both in foul trouble.

“Not only did we lose LeeAnn, but we got in foul trouble,” Kerschbaumer said. “Our depth played a key role. They probably didn't score a point tonight, but they did the little things.”

After Moniteau (14-6, 6-2) overcame the initial salvo by Karns City and cut the lead down to two, the Gremlins went on a 10-2 run to get the lead back to 10 and led by 12 at the half.

Moniteau never got the lead down to less than 10 after that.

Preston said she expected a much closer game this time around.

“We knew they were going to come after us,” Preston said. “We knew it was going to be a big game. We needed to come out and focus and that's what we did.”

Kristina DeMatteis led Moniteau with 14 points.

Despite the loss, Stebbins is encouraged as his team heads into the final two games of the regular season.

“I'm thinking big things from these girls down the road,” Stebbins said. “We have playoffs next week — hopefully we get a good seed.”

MONITEAU 31

Kristina DeMatteis 6-9 2-4 14, Alazia Greaves 1-4 4-6 6, Alycia Brehm 1-4 0-2 3, Stephanie McCall 2-2 4-4 8, Sara Hull 0-2 0-1 0, Alyssa Dailey 0 0-0 0, Kara Mentel 0 0-0 0, Cortney Claypoole 0 0-0 0, Kennedy DeMatteis 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 10-22 10-17 31.

KARNS CITY 47

Emily Hegedus 3-8 0-0 6, Emily LoPresti 3-12 0-0 7, Annie Hegedus 3-10 1-2 7, Annie Hegedus 3-10 1-2 7, Shanel Preston 10-23 1-2 24, Alyssa Gibson 1-2 1-2 3, Saydie Moore 0-1 0-0 0, LeErin Jones 0 0-0 0, Clara Stoughton 0 0-0 0, Brooke Moore 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20-56 3-6 47.

Moniteau 6 8 8 9 — 31

Karns City12 14 11 10 — 47

3-point goals: Moniteau 1 (Brehm); Karns City 4 (LoPresti, Preston 3)

JV: Karns City 43-31

Wednesday: Keystone at Moniteau; Karns City at Union