PUNXSUTAWNEY — Chris Andreassi had mixed feelings about his team’s impressive start to Saturday’s PIAA Class 4A girls basketball first-round playoff game.

Facing District 9 champion Punxsutawney on the Chucks’ home floor, Knoch reeled off a 12-0 run in the first three minutes and 20 seconds of action.

“It was the perfect way to start the game, but it scared me,” Andreassi admitted. “I had seen enough film on them to know that Punxsutawney is a great defensive team and they are great at taking teams out of their offense. I was afraid that we would become stagnant on offense.”

Andreassi watched his fears play out in a second quarter that saw the Knights’ lead dwindle to 24-20 late in the first half.

Knoch would turn the tables on the Chucks, however, and late in the game, it was Punxsutawney struggling to maintain possession and score as the Knights survived with a 53-44 decision.

It was just the second loss of the season for the Chucks (22-2), who grabbed the lead for the first time with Danielle Griebel’s trey that made it 30-29 with 3:10 left in the third quarter.

“It’s tough to come back on a team like Knoch, but our girls have experience and have done it before,” said Punxsutawney coach Mike Carlson. “We got the lead, just weren’t able to hold onto it. Knoch is a great team.”

There were seven lead changes in a 7:11 stretch spanning the third and fourth quarters. The final one was sparked by Knoch’s Adah Fuller, who blocked a shot by Chloe Presloid with 4:07 left in the game. Moments later, Nina Shaw put the Knights up for good (43-42) with a free throw at the other end.

Hattie McGraw followed with a 3-pointer and Megan Vasas sank a basket for a 48-42 edge with just over two minutes left.

In the final 4:40 of the game, the only points scored by Punxsutawney came on Emily McMahan’s bucket that made it 51-44 with just 12 seconds left.

“We’ve won a lot of games with our defense and we take a lot of pride in our play on that end of the court,” said Vasas, who took a charge from Presloid early in the final period. The former left the game briefly with a sprained left ankle, but returned to help close out the victory.

McGraw, Shaw and Vasas each had a hand in staking Knoch to its early double-digit lead.

“We’ve gotten off to some slow starts this season and had to step it up to show today would be different,” said Vasas, who was one of four seniors in Knoch’s starting lineup, joining Shaw, McGraw and Paige Rodgers.

“I’ve lost track of how many playoff games they’ve played in for us,” Andreassi said. “Veteran leadership definitely was big for us today.”

Shaw paced the Knights with 18 points and CeCe Kosecki came off the bench to add 12.

Presloid led the Chucks with 16 points and finishes her varsity career 12 shy of 1,000.

Knoch (18-9) will face Blackhawk, a 51-32 winner over Warren, in a second round meeting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Hampton.

The Knights made the state playoffs for the first time ever last year, defeated Saint Marys before bowing in the second round.

“I’m not putting anything past this group,” Andreassi said. “We play very good defense and defense travels well.”

KNOCH 53

CeCe Kosecki 4 3-5 12, Hattie McGraw 3 0-0 9, Naturelle Ewing 1 3-4 5, Nina Shaw 6 4-8 18, Megan Vasas 4 1-5 9, Paige Rodgers 0 0-0 0, Adah Fuller 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18 11-22 53.

PUNXSUTAWNEY 44

Chloe Presloid 7 1-2 16, Danielle Griebel 2 2-2 8, Samantha Griebel 1 3-4 6, Emily McMahan 3 0-0 6, Avary Powell 3 2-5 8, Riley Doverspike 0 0-0 0, Olivia Burkett 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 8-13 44.

Knoch 20 6 9 18 — 53

Punxsutawney 9 11 17 7 — 44

3-point goals: Knoch 6 (McGraw 3, Shaw 2, Kosecki); Punxsutawney 4 (D.Griebel 2, Presloid, S.Griebel).

Wednesday: Knoch vs. Blackhawk, PIAA second round, 5:30 p.m., at Hampton