Female karate ace, 22, slams home intruder to ground, holds him until troopers arrive

Karate classes paid off for Hannah Hughes, a 22-year-old woman who took down an intruder at her home in Nemacolin, Pennsylvania.

What happened?

Hannah's family was wrapping up a New Years' Eve celebration when her mom, Deb Hughes, saw something strange, KDKA-TV reported.

"I saw all of her lights on in the upstairs of her house. She lives right across the street," Deb Hughes explained.

Hannah said her mom asked, "Who's in your house?"

"I said there better be nobody in my house," Hannah recalled.

KDKA described Hannah's personality as quiet and reserved, but she wasted no time in racing across the street to confront the intruder.

"I just bolted out the door," she told the news outlet. "The only thing I could think is if I get a hold of this guy, I'm not letting him go."

The man standing in her doorway of her home was reportedly Edward William Staley, 19, of nearby Carmichaels. Hannah said she doesn't know him. In fact, she has never seen him before.

"I pushed him and he came at me to try and push me back, Hannah said. "That's when I grabbed him by the hair and put my arm around his arm and I just threw him.

The intruder was in for a surprise because Hannah, a California University of Pennsylvania senior, has 10 years of karate training and earned a brown belt.

"A switch went off in my head," she recalled.

What did she tell the intruder?

After throwing the intruder on the ground, she told him: "Don't move or I'll break your neck."

She was able to hold him at bay until state troopers arrived, the report states. Hannah suffered some minor bruises and Staley was arrest on burglary, assault and other charges.

Still, she said she hopes he turns his life around.

"It was a bad situation, but it ended in one of the best ways it could have," Hannah told the news outlet.

Nemacolin is town of 1,000 about 60 miles south of Pittsburgh.