KARNS CITY, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Chloe Fritch noticed something was wrong with Brooklynn Taylor’s 3-point shot.
The two sophomores on the Karns City girls basketball team got together to discuss it and Taylor made an adjustment that Fritch suggested.
In the fourth quarter, it paid off.
(Pictured above, Chloe Fritch, right, and Brooklynn Taylor each scored 12 points in Karns City’s win over Moniteau)
Taylor hit two big 3-pointers, the second giving the Gremlins the lead for good at 31-29 midway through the fourth quarter, and Fritch’s clutch shooting from the free throw line down the stretch carried Karns City to a 40-35 win over rival Moniteau on Wednesday night.
Both finished with 12 points in the home victory.
“Chloe actually kind of fixed my shot for me,” Taylor said, smiling. “I was pushing off with my hip instead of using my legs, so they weren’t falling. She told me I had to keep shooting. I couldn’t do it without her. She’s my buddy.”
“I was like, ‘Brooklynn, you have to make the 3s and I’ll do everything else,’” Fritch added. “We had to work together and she made those 3s and I made the foul shots at the end. I’m just so proud of our team and the way we were able to pull through in a big rivalry.”
After struggling with free throw shooting in the first three quarters, Karns City was 9-of-10 from the line in the fourth quarter. Fritch was 7 of 8.
She also had the biggest assist — one that didn’t show up in the box score — with her diagnosis of the hitch in Taylor’s shot.
“She’s our leader in regards to keeping everybody’s spirits up and getting everyone energized,” said Karns City coach Steve Andreassi of Fritch. “Emma Dailey also has a lot of leadership abilities in her, too. Tonight, in a game like this, leaders really step up.”
Any win over Moniteau is sweet for Taylor, Fritch and the rest of the Gremlins.
It’s a little sweeter for Taylor, however.
Her grandfather, Mark Yeager, coached the Moniteau girls basketball team. Her mother, Wendy, played and graduated from Moniteau in 1997. She also served as an assistant coach for the Warriors.
“I can hold this over them a little,” Taylor said, grinning.
The last time these two team met, Moniteau overcame a 12-point deficit to win.
Taylor said that loss four days before Christmas has stuck with them since.
“That left a very bad taste in our mouth,” Taylor said. “We came back ready to play.”
The teams played very even for most of the game.
Moniteau led 16-12 in the final minute of the first half before Fritch drained a 3-pointer to make it a 16-15 game at the half.
Again the Warriors had a five-point lead at 24-19 late in the third quarter, but Karns City was able to mitigate the damage and trailed by three heading into the final frame.
That’s when Taylor and Fritch were able to give Karns City a lead and some breathing room.
The Gremlins led 39-31 in the waning seconds of the game.
“We knew they were a good shooting team and they’re even better inside,” Andreassi said. “We knew we had to stop that inside-out game and the only way to do that is with tenacious defense and we stepped it up tonight.”
Recently, the Gremlins had been giving up more points than they were accustomed to this season.
Karns City (14-8) was able to clamp down against a talented offensive team in Moniteau.
“We knew we were a much better defensive team because that has been our strong point this year,” Andreassi said. “We got back to it tonight.”
The Gremlins were able to hold Moniteau leading scorer Catherine Kelly in check for most of the game.
Kelly scored just eight.
Allie Pry led the Warriors with 11 points.
“We hurt ourselves,” said Moniteau coach Dee Arblaster. “Teams are going to gear toward Catherine and shutting her down. We have four other players that I am confident in and they have to be confident in themselves. We have been pretty balanced all year and for us to be successful, we have to be that.”
Moniteau (17-5) will play North Clarion in the semifinals of Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference Tournament at 6 p.m. on Friday.
“We just have to forget about it,” Arblaster said. “We have a game on Friday.”
Karns City will likely have two weeks off before playing in the District 9 Class 3A championship game, presumably against Kane.
The challenge for the Gremlins is finding a way to stay sharp while also healing up of the test ahead.
“The first thing we’re going to do is take a couple of days off,” Andreassi said. “We could potentially scrimmage against someone. We took about two weeks off at Christmas and it didn’t work out so well for us.”
