Gray's timing is perfect as Fremd survive

Timing is everything.

And Fremd sophomore forward Megan Gray scored her first, and only, basket of Friday's game at Conant at just the right time.

Gray grabbed an offensive rebound inside the paint and layed the ball in with 43 seconds left to give the Vikings a 30-28 lead. A Gianna Abruzzo free throw with 8.2 seconds left gave the game its final score at 31-28.

"It's just the same routine every time," Gray said of her basket. "Just put it back up. But if our team didn't get all those points before, it wouldn't have made any difference."

As the final score indicates, the game was a defensive struggle, something Fremd coach Dave Yates said any team has to be prepared for when it plays the Cougars.

"Any time we play these guys they are well coached and disciplined and that's what is going to happen," Yates said. "As much as we would like it to be a higher scoring game, whenever we play them it's a game about toughness."

Yates said he liked the tough play of Abruzzo, Gray and junior Taylor Glassmann, who has been battling the flu all week..

"We just knew we had to be really strong and tough with the ball," Gray said. "And just limit our turnovers."

How tight was the defense for both sides? Neither Fremd (6-2, 2-0) nor Conant (7-2, 1-1) scored more than 10 points in either the second or third quarters.

"To hold a team like Fremd to 31 points is an outstanding defensive effort by our team," Conant coach Dan Travers said.

Lauren Jason, Marissa Ross and Angie Lonski all did a great job of pressuring Fremd's guards throughout the game.

"They are a good team," Conant coach Dan Travers said of Fremd. "Give them credit. We couldn't put the ball in the hole."

Conant was just 2-of-17 from beyond the 3-point line.

"We're going to shoot them," Travers said. "We had a couple rushed, but we had some good looks."

Conant's Emma Loos led all scorers with 12 points. Abruzzo and Katherine Hetzner were the high scorers for Fremd. Each had 10 points.