KARNS CITY — The defense never rests.

That has been a staple of Karns City girls basketball for years and Wednesday night’s season opener was no exception.

The Gremlins forced 30 turnovers and limited Knoch to 11 field goals in posting a 41-27 victory over the Knights (0-4) in the KC gym.

“We had tremendous defensive effort tonight,” Karns City coach Steve Andreassi said. “It’s all hard work. That’s all it was. Our girls worked hard for four quarters.”

After failing to sink a field goal in the first quarter and trailing 4-3 after eight minutes, the Gremlins began the second quarter with a 14-3 run. Knoch trailed by seven at halftime, but never got any closer in the second half.

Junior forward Naomi Venesky sparked the KC surge in the second quarter. She stuck back two offensive rebounds and completed a three-point play in the first two minutes of the second period.

Venesky produced 21 points, 12 rebounds and eight steals in her season debut.

“Naomi gets her hands on shots, gets her hands on passes, gets her hands on rebounds,” Andreassi said. “She is total energy on the floor. She’s a pretty good shooter, too.”

Venesky said defense will be the key to the Gremlins’ success this season.

“Our defense was awesome last year,” she said. “We need to get turnovers because we move well in transition and in fast breaks. That will generate a lot of our offense.

“When I’m stealing the ball and handling it well, I know I’m helping my team.”

Savanna Prescott contributed 11 points and three steals for KC. All three of her steals came in the back court and she finished off each of them with layups. Brooklyn Taylor had eight points for the Gremlins.

Neah Ewing led Knoch wit 12 points, including a pair of treys. Karlee Buterbaugh scored eight points and grabbed seven rebounds.

But the turnover bug has been biting the Knights early in the season.

“Turnovers are a major problem so far,” Knoch coach Shane McGraw said. “I wasn’t expecting this at all. I wish I had an answer for it. We just have to keep working. No. 1 (Venesky) made a big difference for them tonight. She was all over the court.”

Andreassi said Venesky did “a solid job” on guarding Ewing and Buterbaugh.

“She can give shooters trouble because she’s so aggressive,” the KC coach added.

Karns City shot less than 30% from the field and turned the ball over 24 times itself, but still won by double digits.

“We had three freshmen on the floor at times, Shae Pistorius is back after not playing last year, Chloe Fritch is coming off an ACL ... strong defense can make up for a lot of things,” Andreassi said.

KNOCH 27

Jada Burgard 1-5 0-0 2, Sadie Hawk 0-0 0-0 0, Liv Foster 0-3 0-0 0, Neah Ewing 4-10 2-2 12, Karlee Buterbaugh 4-16 0-4 8, Aubrey Sencer 2-5 0-0 5, JoJo Sebalskie 0-4 0-0 0. Totals: 11-43 2-6 27.

KARNS CITY 41

Naomi Venesky 6-14 8-12 21, Hannah Summerville 0-3 0-0 0, Chloe Fritch 0-2 0-0 0, Olivia Farren 0-1 0-0 0, Shae Pistorius 0-3 0-0 0, Hanna Dailey 0-5 1-2 1, Savanna Prescott 5-13 1-2 11, Brooklyn Taylor 3-6 2-3 8, Maddie Mahood 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 14-49 12-19 41.

Knoch 4 7 5 11 - 27

Karns City 3 15 9 14 - 41

3-point goals: Knoch 3 (Ewing 2, Spencer), Karns City 1 (Venesky)

JV: Karns City 37, Knoch 11 (KC: Charlie Surman 12, Kira Citway 10; K: Lydia Pinkerton 5)

Monday: Mars at Knoch

Wednesday: Karns City at Punxsutawney

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