Warren (7-0) scored the first 26 points of the game and led 31-3 at halftime.

“I’ve said from Day 1, every day they’re together, in a game or in practice, it’s a good thing,” said Warren coach Lisa LaVan.

“They’re still a young team and still trying to gel and mesh.”

Margo Loutzenhiser, who surpassed 2016 graduate D.J. Hahn (now at Cal) for fifth on the Lady Dragons’ career scoring list the day before, scored 16 of her game-high 18 points in the first half.

Warren’s Riley Childress (RIGHT) and Margo Loutzenhiser force a steal during the first half of their game against Karns City at Oil City High School.

She shared co-MVP honors with teammate Emma Ruhlman, who scored 16 points in the win while also notching 8 steals.

Whether it be easy transition buckets or 3’s (Taylor Childress and Loutzenhiser had 2 each), Warren had no problem finding its offense, and defensively, they were suffocating.

On paper, the matchup with Karns City would have been a good one in recent years. But the Lady Gremlins, who had their streak of four-straight District 9 titles (three in 2A and the last in 3A) snapped by Brookville last season and have produced multiple college players, are in rebuilding mode.

“It gets a little frustrating, but we were able to work on some stuff today that we hadn’t worked on at all in a game,” LaVan said. “It was very beneficial.”

Warren has a solid rotation of eight, and games like this allow them to get some extended minutes for many of the younger players who are looking to crack the regular rotation, including freshmen Katie Madigan, who contributed four points, as well as Halee Mineweaser.

Warren sophomore Kelsey Stuart drives along the baseline during the second half of Friday’s game against Karns City at Oil City High School.

“We want to stretch to 9 and 10 team, and having games like this helps,” LaVan said. “It gets them those minutes and gets them working together.”

Freshman Riley Childress, who was also named to the All-Tournament team, dished out five assists

After a strong non-region slate that included wins over Erie, McDowell, Greenville and Panama, the Lady Dragons will once again see an uptick with their schedule, beginning with Jamestown (NY) on Wednesday and Region 6 play not long after.

“It’s not going to be easy,” LaVan said. “But I’m very happy with where we’re at.”

– – –

Warren freshman Katie Madigan fires a pass to an open teammate during the first half against the Lady Gremlins. Madigan scored four points in the 52-13 victory.

WARREN (52)

T. Childress 3-0-0-8, Hultberg 0-0-0-0, R. Childress 1-0-1-3, Ruhlman 5-5-6-16, Loutzenhiser 8-0-0-18, Stuart 0-0-0-0, Matson 0-0-0-0, Paris 1-1-3-3, Madigan 2-0-0-4, Mineweaser 0-0-0-0, Kraft 0-0-0-0, Munksgard 0-0-0-0, Totals 20-6-10-52

KARNS CITY (13)

Stitt 1-1-2-3, Crispen 3-0-0-6, Johns 1-0-0-3, Huff 0-1-2-1, McMillen 0-0-1-0, Turner 0-0-0-0, Staavi 0-0-0-0, Fennell 0-0-0-0, Manual 0-0-0-0, Totals 5-3-8-13

By Quarters

Warren's Halee Mineweaser looks to pass to an open teammate during the second half against Karns City on Friday.

Warren 15 16 17 4 – 52

Karns City 0 3 3 7 – 13

Three-point FGs: Warren (6) – T. Childress 2, Loutzenhiser 2, R. Childress, Ruhlman; Karns City

– – –

JV

WARREN (21)

Mineweaser 2-0-2-4, Madigan 4-0-0-8, Bowman 4-0-0-8, Kraft 0-0-0-0, Munkgard 0-0-0-0, Albaugh 0-1-2-1, Totals 10-1-4-21

KARNS CITY (25)

Fennell 1-1-2-3, Callihan 0-1-4-1, Johns 5-4-10-14, McMillen 0-0-0-0, Manvel 2-3-4-7

By Quarters

Warren 0 4 10 7 – 21

Karns City 9 0 7

Three-point FGs: None