KARNS CITY — Having seen Brookville erase a pair of big deficits, Karns City decided it was time to return the favor.

The Gremlins, having seen a 13-point second half lead evaporate in a 2 minute, 32 second span, reeled off the final nine points over the final 1:29 to come away with a 60-58 girls basketball victory over the Raiders Wednesday.

“I thought we had played very well to get the leads,” Gremlins coach Dave Kerschbaumer said. “We have freshmen and sophomores working through this.

“We'll live with it. I told the girls we played 26 minutes of good basketball. The other six minutes, we'll learn from it,” he added.

“I give both teams credit for coming back,” said Brookville coach Mark Powell. “(Karns City) had the last run. What do you do?.”

The Gremlins (3-0) seemingly took control by starting the second half on a 13-3 run, highlighted by three 3-pointers — two from Annie Hegedus and one from Shanel Preston — to take a 38-25 lead with 2;36 left in the third quarter.

After Aisha Newsome responded with a 3-pointer and Preston came back with a pair of free throws, Karns City still enjoyed a 12-point lead with 1:26 left in the frame.

Then the Raiders made a huge push — fast.

Newsome hit another two 3-pointers, followed by a basket by Lanae Newsome and a 3-pointer by Elaina Powell in the closing seconds to make it 40-39 entering the fourth quarter. Aisha Newsome promptly opened the quarter with another trey to cap a 14-0 run to give the Raiders (2-1) a 42-40 lead with 7:42 left in the game.

“We do shoot threes quite a bit, but not to the extent we did tonight,” Powell said. “We take what the defense gives us, but Karns City outrebounded us and we turned the ball over too much. You can't give a team that many extra possessions.”

Preston would tie the game with a lay-up on the ensuing possession before Aisha Newsome scored to give the Raiders a lead they would not surrender until the closing seconds.

Thanks to Karly Reinsel scoring the Raiders' final 10 points of the game, including a pair of 3-pointers, the squad open up a 58-51 advantage with 1:54 to play.

Then, following a time out, the Gremlins regrouped.

A Preston basket was followed by a 3-point play by Emily Schumacher, the latter with 1:04 to play, to make it a two-point game.

The Gremlins used a Preston pull-up with 21 seconds left to tie the game at 58.

Once the Raiders brought the ball past midcourt, Lanae Newsome's pass was picked off by Emily LoPresti, who went the distance and connected on the lay-up with 5.9 seconds remaining.

“When we called that timeout, I didn't see one girl hang her head,” said Kerschbaumer. “Their eyes were on me. They were looking for guidance. In past years, it wasn't like that. Now, they were 'OK, what do we have to do?'

“E-Lo had a great steal at the end. It was a great play, but what I liked was we had two girls in position to get the rebound if she didn't make it.”

The Gremlins finished with four players in double figures: Preston (16), LeAnn Gibson (15), Annie Hegedus 12 (on four 3-pointers) and LoPresti (10) while Aisha Newsome led Brookville with 21 points (including five 3-pointers) and Reinsel added 15 points.

BROOKVILLE 58

Aisha Newsome 8 0-1 21, Lanae Newsome 4 0-0 9, Karly Reinsel 4 5-6 15, Kylee Deal 2 2-2 6, Madison Hill 0 2-2 2, Samantha Reinard 0 0-0 0, Amanda Ray 0 0-0 0, Elaina Powell 2 0-0 5. Totals: 20 9-11 58.

KARNS CITY 60

Leah McGuire 0 0-0 0, Emily Schumacher 2 1-3 5, Shanel Preston 5 5-9 16, Annie Hegedus 4 0-0 12, Emily LoPresti 4 2-2 10, LeAnn Gibson 4 7-8 15, LeErin Jones 1 0-0 2. Totals: 20 15-22 60.

Brookville 9 13 17 19—58

Karns City9 16 15 20—60

3-point goals: Brookville 9 (A. Newsome 5, Reinsel 2, L. Newsome, Powell); Karns City, 5 (Hegedus 4, Preston)

JV: Brookville, 44-20

Tuesday: Venango Catholic at Karns City