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Berries squeeze KC for 46-42 win
By Sam Tallarico
Eagle Staff Writer
KARNS CITY — Coach Dave Kerschbaumer was pleading with his Karns City girls basketball team not to play soft in Thursday's game against Cranberry.
Unfortunately for the Gremlins, the Berries aren't sitting near the top of the Keystone Shortway West division for nothing.
Cranberry outscored Karns City 10-4 over the final two minutes of the game — the final six at the free throw line — to come away with a 46-42 victory.
The Berries (13-4, 10-2) seemed to get better positioning for rebounds, grabbed more loose balls and converted more second chances.
"We've got to get a little stronger inside," said Kerschbaumer. "We still need to get the big rebound and we have to make smarter decisions."
When Karns City's Hannah Beck sank two free throws with 3:34 left and Ashley Campbell followed with a basket with 2:56 left, the Gremlins took only their second lead of the game.
The Berries answered with scores by Maggie O'Neil and Hannah Heeter, plus a free throw by Emily Hatch, to take a 41-38 lead with 34.6 seconds left.
Campbell, who was fouled grabbing the rebound on the missed free throw attempt, then sank 1-of-2 to make it a two-point game.
The Berries doubled the lead when Chyanne Shuffstall made two free throws with 30 seconds remaining.
Karns City's Allyson Kepple took the inbounds pass and drove down to the 3-point line, where she was fouled. She calmly sank all three shots to make it 43-42 with 24.8 seconds left.
"They kept coming back," said Cranberry coach Chrissy Shumaker. "We didn't panic."
Heeter and Hatch each sank a free throw, the latter with 14.5 seconds remaining. Kepple attempted a 3-pointer, but her shot fell short of the rim.
"Offensively, I thought we got the job done," said Shumaker. "Our defense needed to shut them down and keep them from penetrating. We needed to focus on defense in the second half and I thought we did."
Karns City (9-8, 6-6) took its first lead of the game, 22-21, with 2:48 left when Kylee Rankin and Kepple scored consecutive baskets.
The Gremlins, though, went 8:11 between points as the Berries built a 30-22 lead in the third quarter before a basket by Campbell with 2:36 left broke the drought.
"That's been our M.O. lately," said Kerschbaumer. "We come out in the third quarter and dig ourselves into a hole."
Notes: Kepple led all scorers with 18 points, giving her 1,031 in her career. She moved into fifth place on the school's all-time leading scorer's list by passing Gina Andreassi (1,021). ... Campbell added 12 points for the Gremlins. Cranberry was led by Heeter (16) and Shuffstall (12).
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