Photo by Mark Evans Eisenhower’s Clara Steinberg drives to the basket for a layup and her 1,000th career point Monday in a region girls basketball game against Northwestern.

By STEVE YOUNGER

ALLEN SEYBERT

sports@timesobserver.com

RUSSELL — The 8-1 Eisenhower girls basketball team knew it was facing a very good opponent in Northwestern, which came into Monday night’s game undefeated at 10-0.

The visitors showed just how good as they came away with a 54-30 region victory.

The gym was packed as was the student section, affectionately known as the “Pig Pen,” who were dressed for “Hawaiian Night.” And it would have been easy to say that everyone came to watch the game, but it really was for another reason as Knights junior Clara Steinberg needed just four points to become the second girls player to join the 1,000-point Club.

At the 7:21 mark of the second quarter, she did just that, joining alumnus Elisha Jones.

“It was great to see the gym packed with kids and the community come out to support Clara and the team,” said Eisenhower head coach and Clara’s father D.J. Steinberg. “Clara is just a tireless worker. To be only the second girl at Eisenhower to reach 1,000 points as a junior is a testament to how hard she works.”

Unfortunately for the Knights, that was the highlight of the game.

The cold outside carried over to their shooting as they just could not get their shots to drop in the opening quarter as Northwestern, behind junior Makayla Presser Palmer who had 10 points in the period, opened up a 15-6 lead.

Eisenhower began to find the range in the second quarter, but had no answer for Palmer, who scored 20 of her 32 points in the first half, which helped Northwestern open up a 30-18 lead.

Northwestern’s defense shut down the Knights and held Clara Steinberg in check while outscoring the hosts 22-4 in the third quarter and opening up a 52-22 advantage.

“(Palmer) is a tremendous player and she showed tonight how hard it is to stop her,” Coach Steinberg said. “It was a tough night for us. Their shots were dropping and ours weren’t. Clara got into a foul trouble, which made it tough for us as well. When you play a good team, they will expose your weakness. We’ll watch the film and get back to work.”

Lainey Font led Eisenhower, which will be back in action on Saturday when it travels to Clarion for a 5:30 p.m. game, with 10 points.

BOYS

EAGLES ROLL

YOUNGSVILLE — The Eagles scored first. The Fires scored second.

After that, it was all Youngsville – all the time.

Youngsville (7-1) used a 26-0 first-quarter run to open 2025 on a winning note with a 70-19 victory over Forest Area Monday at Youngsville High School.

The hosts held a 31-5 lead after a quarter and had pushed the lead past the mercy rule at halftime, 45-13.

With a running clock for much of the second half, Youngsville remained in control and started the new year much like they ended the previous one — as winners.

Rylan Benton led a quartet of Eagles in double figures with 22 points. Braydon Baker added 19 points and David Manning and Ethan Beers had 11 points each.

The Eagles won the junior varsity contest, 43-18. Hudson Haight led the winners with 14 points, Josh Pikna added nine and Uriah Gallegos finished with eight.

Youngsville will try to improve to 8-1 on Friday when it travels to Tionesta for a game with these same Fires.

FOREST AREA (19): Custer 1 0-0 2, Dietrich 4 0-0 8, G. Busch 0 1-2 1, Bawden 1 0-0 2, E. Busch 1 0-0 2, Russ 1 0-0 2, Carll 0 2-2 2, Totals: 8 3-4 19

YOUNGSVILLE (70): David Manning 4 3-3 11, Ethan Beers 5 1-2 11, Cash Moore 0 1-2 1, Braydon Baker 7 3-4 19, Rylan Benton 8 3-4 22, Josh Pikna 0 3-4 3, Ollie Boozer 1 1-1 3, Hudson Haight 0 0-0 0, Rodney Rowland 0 0-0 0, Totals: 25 15-20 70

Forest Area 5 8 4 2 – 19

Youngsville 31 14 12 13 – 70

3-pointers: F-None; Y- Benton 3, Baker 2

Jayvee: Youngsville 43, Forest Area 18

FOREST AREA (18): E. Busch 0 2-6 2, G. Busch 0 1-4 1, Bayle 1 4-4 7, Romero 2 0-0 4, Hoovler 1 0-0 3, Ribero 0 1-2 1, Totals: 4 8-16 18

YOUNGSVILLE (43): Hudson Haight 5 1-2 14, Brendon Gallegos 1 3-6 5, Josh Pikna 2 5-8 9, Uriah Gallegos 4 0-0 8, Ollie Boozer 0 1-2 1, Collin Montgomery 0 1-2 1, Steven Rex 1 3-6 5, Chris Edwards 0 0-0 0, Totals: 13 14-26 43

Forest Area 0 2 7 9 – 18

Youngsville 11 11 11 10 – 43

3-pointers: F- Bayle, Hoovler; Y- Haight 3