KARNS CITY — Shooting free throws wasn't the strong suit of either the Union or Karns City girls basketball teams Thursday night.

But the Gremlins received two big points from the charity stripe late in the game from senior Haley Callihan.

With her team clinging to a 42-41 lead with 12.6 seconds left, the forward drained two free throws to give KC a 44-41 lead.

Union missed two 3-pointers in the final 10 seconds in a desperate attempt to tie the game and the Gremlins walked away with the 3-point win.

Karns City was 14-of-27 from the free throw line in the game and Callihan had missed her previous three attempts before draining two to help win the game.

"She's one of our leaders," Karns City coach Dave Kerschbaumer said of Callihan. "She missed a few earlier in the game, but I had the utmost confidence that she'd make those two."

Union shot just nine-of-19 from the free throw line.

After Callihan's clutch free throws, Torri Smith and Meagan Booth both missed 3-pointers that would have tied the game for Union, with the latter's bouncing off the rim as time expired.

Booth had rebounded a missed free throw from Karns City's Julia Zaludek with just over four seconds to play.

The senior guard dribbled nearly the length of the floor and had a good look at the basket, but the shot was just off.

"With that little time on the clock, we told whoever got the ball to just get down the floor as fast as they could," said Union coach Josh Meeker. "We don't have a go-to 3-point shooter."

The Damsels (2-2) were forced to play the final 4:06 of the game without senior guard Tiffany Corle, who fouled out after scoring a team-high 11 points.

"She affects everything," said Meeker. "We lost our go-to players from last year and now, she's our go-to player. The other girls rely on her for a lot of things. It's a huge difference not having her in the game."

Karns City's first lead of the game came when Callihan converted a conventional 3-point play with 6:09 left in the third quarter that put the Gremlins up 23-22.

The lead changed hands several times by the time KC took it back for good with Allyson Kepple's steal and layup for a 42-41 edge with 35 seconds left in the game.

Early in the game, it was the Damsels who took control with an 8-0 run in the first 3:50.

The Gremlins had trouble keeping possession of the ball and missed their shots when they got them off.

"I just told the players to be competitive," said Kerschbaumer. "I think we came out a bit shell-shocked, but we just needed to keep that fire on the court."

The action on the court was heated virtually the entire game.

Thirty-one personal fouls were called and loose balls were fought for time after time.

"When these two teams get together, I think we both bring out the best in the other," said Kerschbaumer. "It's always good basketball."

Senior guard Tausha Bowser led the Gremlins (3-1) with 11 points.

UNION 41Tiffany Corle 5 1-3 11, Janele Divins 2 5-6 9, Mackenzie Shirey 0 3-7 3, Denyelle Painter 3 0-2 6, Torri Smith 4 0-0 8, Meagan Booth 1 0-0 2, Corri Seybert 1 0-0 2, Heather Booth 0 0-0 0, Alicia Anthony 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 16 9-19 41.

KARNS CITY 44Tausha Bowser 3 3-4 11, Michelle Sweeney 2 0-1 4, Allyson Kepple 4 0-2 8, Julia Zaludek 1 2-5 4, Ashley Campbell 2 5-6 9, Haley Callihan 1 4-8 6, Kylee Rankin 1 0-0 2, Kailyn Weibel 0 0-1 0.

Totals: 14 14-27 44.

Union 14 5 10 12—41Karns City 6 10 15 13—443-point goals: Karns City 2 (Tausha Bowser 2)

JV: Karns City 30-27

Monday: Karns City @ Shenango

Tuesday: Union @ Clarion