The Warren County Christian School girls jumped all over CCSI after the opening tip and never looked back, going on to win by a final score of 47-13 in Monday’s New Penn Christian Conference game at WCCS.

CCSI didn’t have an answer for Emma Marino, who finished with a game-high 19 points to go along with five rebounds and five assists for the Lady Lions.

“I think we showed a lot of improvement,” said WCCS coach Eric Swartzbaugh. “Emma Marino did a really good job running the fast break and getting out in the open court. We did a lot of things that we’ve been working on all year – we’re getting ready for our tournament next week and we still have a few things to work at, but overall it went really well.”

Warren County Christian opened the game with eight quick points and held a 12-4 lead after the first quarter. They then built on that lead with a run of 10 unanswered points while holding CCSI scoreless in the second quarter.

The Lady Lions maintained their pressure on both ends of the court in the second half to eliminate any chance of a CCSI comeback.

Desirae Kerr followed Marino with eight points while Allison Weidner added six – all of which came in the fourth quarter. Rachel Brenner pulled down 10 rebounds to lead an all-around strong performance on the glass for the Lady Lions.

“Our rebounding was much better than it has been,” Swartzbaugh said. “Rachel Brenner did a really good job under the basket. She had probably one of her best rebounding games and also helped get us started on the fast break.”

Kerr finished with eight boards and Weidner had six while Marino, Lydia Swartzbaugh, and Kiara Baker each chipped in five.

Warren County Christian wraps up the regular season tied with Erie Bethel for first place with a record of 5-1 in New Penn Christian Conference games. The Lady Lions could potentially have one more home game if the league decides to let higher seeds host on the opening night of the tournament, Friday, Feb. 19.

The championship game will be Saturday, Feb. 20 at Erie First Christian Academy.

CCSI (13)

C. Hemlock 2 1-2 5, H. Newhard 0 0-0 0, Lashbrook 0 0-2 0, E. Hemlock 3 0-0 6, Steiger 0 0-0 0, Ashton 0 0-0 0, Southwick 0 0-0 0, Brandenburg 0 0-0 0, E. Newhard 1 0-0 2.

WCCS (47)

L. Swartzbaugh 2 0-0 4, Kerr 4 0-0 8, Weidner 3 0-0 6, Brenner 1 0-2 2, Erdman 2 0-0 4, Marino 8 3-9 19, Phelps 1 0-2 2, N. Swartzbaugh 1 0-0 2, Lauffenburger 0 0-0 0.

CCSI 4 0 5 4 – 13

WCCS 12 10 15 10 – 47

3-pointers: C – none; W – none.