Eagle Sports Editor

KARNS CITY - Thank goodness for defense.

The Karns City girls basketball team scored only four points in the final 9:46, sank just two of eight free throws in overtime and suffered 25 turnovers Friday night.

Yet the Gremlins came away with a 38-34 overtime victory in the first round of the Karns City Classic.

Karns City (3-1) will face Knoch (2-1), a 60-50 winner over Union, in the tournament championship game at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

"We gutted this one out," Karns City coach Chris Bellis said. "Both of these teams lost a lot of varsity players from last year, and that's going to create mistakes handling the ball in key situations."

While Karns City had 25 turnovers, Freeport (3-2) had 26, including its first three possessions of the overtime session.

Freeport was held scoreless during the overtime period after going on an 8-0 run in the final 5:46 of regulation to tie the game.

"Their defense deserves the credit," Freeport coach Ron Grove said of Karns City. "They really played the ball aggressively and made it tough for us to run an offense."

The lead changed hands five times in the first half with the Gremlins taking a 20-16 lead into intermission. Their lead reached 34-26 - the largest margin for either team - when Haley Callihan sank a short jumper with 5:46 remaining in regulation.

A pair of baseline jumpers by Laney Pastoria, an offensive rebound and stickback by Katelyn Macurdy and a pair of free throws by Nikki Woitas knotted the game at 34 with 1:11 left.

"I was pleased with that comeback," Grove said. "The girls showed me a lot there."

Karns City had a chance to win the game at the buzzer, but Morgan Summerville couldn't connect on a layup.

Freshman Allyson Kepple gave Karns City the lead for good when she stuck back an offensive rebound with 3:13 left in overtime. Brianna Markle added a free throw with 1:02 remaining.

The Gremlins didn't clinch the win until Summerville sank a free throw with 2.9 seconds left.

"Morgan Summerville and Brittany Green gave us excellent senior leadership tonight," Bellis said. "We have (senior) Jaime Reott out with a fractured hand and Melissa Collier, one of our top scorers, is out with an illness.

"The girls we had out there gave us all they had, and it was enough."

Callihan had 11 points and seven rebounds for Karns City while Summerville had 10 of the Gremlins' 37 rebounds. Markle contributed eight points and eight boards.

"We've had someone in double digits in rebounds every game so far and this is our third different leading scorer in four games," Bellis said. "The girls are picking each other up."

Pastoria had 11 points for Freeport with Emily Ferko adding 10 points and six of the Yellowjackets' 25 rebounds.

Ferko scored all 10 of her points in the first half and took just two shots the rest of the way.

"Laney was developing a hot hand and we wanted to put the ball in her hands down the stretch," Grove said.

Knoch (2-1) led by as many as 25 in the third quarter and withstood a late Union rally for the win."I'm not worried about how the game ended or the final score," Knoch coach Curt Vasas said. "I wanted to get my sophomores some varsity minutes and I thought our lead was safe enough to do that."They had some problems and we'll work on them. But my first seven girls tonight? I don't know if they can play any better."All five of Knoch's starters scored in double figures and the Knights had a 42-17 lead over the previously unbeaten Golden Damsels (3-1) with 5:35 left in the third quarter.Union coach Josh Meeker subbed in five new players at that point and the Damsels responded with a 24-point fourth quarter."We ended the game the way we should have been playing from the beginning," Meeker said."I wasn't happy with what I was getting from my first five players. I feel like I have a second five that can play and they showed it."Jen Robinson led Knoch with 12 points, six rebounds and five assists. Lauren Koegler added 10 points, five steals and four assists.Nicole Reiser contributed 11 points, five rebounds and four assists. Liz Burgard had 11 points and Maria Frey chipped in 10."Our girls like it that way," Vasas said of the balanced scoring. "This is a very unselfish group. They know they're hard to defend when they're distributing the ball around that way."Knoch sank 25 of 52 shots from the floor Friday.Andrea Mortimer paced Union with 14 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter, and four rebounds. Bethany Koch added 13 points and four boards.Liz King had five rebounds off the bench for Knoch, which held a 32-25 rebounding edge overall. The Knights had 16 turnovers to Union's 15."We shouldn't have been intimidated out there, but it looked that way tonight," Meeker admitted. "Still, this game will benefit us over the long haul."KNOCH 60Nicole Reiser 5-12 1-3 11, Liz Burgard 5-7 0-0 11, Lauren Koegler 3-6 2-2 10, Maria Frey 4-10 2-2 10, Jen Robinson 5-10 2-3 12, Pam Gagen 1-1 0-0 2, Ashley MacArthur 1-2 0-0 2, Kristin Robb 0-0 0-0 0, Liz King 1-3 0-0 2, Sarah Cooper 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 25-52 7-10 60UNION 50Tiffany Cole 1-4 0-0 3, Kayla Hepler 0-4 0-0 0, Andrea Mortimer 4-7 5-10 14, Janele Divins 2-3 0-0 6, MacKenzie Shirey 3-4 0-1 6, Bethany Koch 5-10 2-2 13, Nikki Davis 1-2 0-2 2, Molly Scott 0-5 0-0 0, Courtney Horner 2-3 2-6 6, Denyelle Painter 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 18-44 9-21 503-point goals:Burgard, Koegler 2; Cole, Mortimer, Divins 2, KochJV:Knoch, 34-31FREEPORT 34Laney Pastoria 5-15 0-1 11, Mimi Sypulski 0-0 1-2 1, Jen Fair 1-3 0-0 2, Nikki Woitas 0-2 2-2 2, Michelle Micklow 0-0 0-0 0, Katelyn Macurdy 1-3 0-1 2, Kirsten Akmquist 0-1 0-0 0, Laura Garlitz 1-2 0-0 2, Stephanie Clowes 1-3 1-2 4, Emily Ferko 5-12 0-0 10. Totals: 14-41 4-7 34KARNS CITY 38Allyson Kepple 4-8 0-0 9, Laura Kepple 1-3 0-0 3, Brittany Green 0-4 0-2 0, Haley Callihan 3-9 3-4 11, Kailyn Weibel 0-1 0-0 0, Ashley Fuhrer 0-2 0-0 0, Morgan Summerville 3-10 1-2 7, Mallory Craig 0-0 0-0 0, Brianna Markle 3-8 1-4 8. Totals: 14-45 5-12 383-point goals:Pastoria, Clowes; A.Kepple, L.Kepple, Callihan 2, MarkleJV:Karns City, 41-31Saturday:Consolation-Union vs. Freeport, 1:30 p.m.; Championship-Knoch vs. Karns City, 4:30 p.m.