BELLVILLE — Brinley Barnett and her Clear Fork teammates owned the third quarter Thursday at the Colt Corral.

Barnett made two of her three 3-pointers in the third quarter as the Colts pulled away for a 56-40 win over Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference nemesis Shelby.

Clear Fork (6-0, 4-0) beat Shelby for the first time since the 2022-23 season and took sole possession of first place in the MOAC standings. 

The Colts outscored the Whippets (4-4, 3-1) 20-9 in the third.

“The third quarter this year we have been dominant,” Barnett said. “In previous years we haven’t … so that’s been one of our goals, to really coming out firing in the third quarter.”

The Whippets trailed 30-24 at the half and 30-25 early in the third period before the Colts took over. 

Barnett’s first triple of the half gave Clear Fork a 37-28 advantage with 4:27 remaining. A Millie Chamberlain trey gave the Colts a 42-30 lead before Barnett connected from distance again to make it 45-30. 

Ava Boccio’s 3 pushed the lead to 48-32 and her offensive rebound and putback at the horn goosed Clear Fork’s lead to 50-33.

“Going back to the end of the first half (Shelby) did a lot of good things to close the gap,” Clear Fork coach Scott Sellers said. “This year we’ve been pretty good in the third quarter.”

Spreading the Wealth

Sellers employs a nine-player rotation and six of them scored Thursday. Bocci led the way with 19 points, while Barnett added 13. Chamberlain had 11.

“We play nine kids and they play hard,” Sellers said. 

Four Colts hit at least one 3-pointer. Clear Fork connected on eight 3s on the evening.

“That was one of our biggest focuses,” Shelby coach Natalie Lantz said. “We did a good job of contesting right off the bat, but on long shots there are long rebounds.”

Retooling

Shelby lost eight seniors to graduation. The new-look Whippets were led by Chloe Mahek, who scored 19 points. Braylee Sturts added seven.

“They’re getting more and more confident,” Lantz said of her inexperienced team. “You have six or seven kids coming into whole new roles. 

“You’re trying to develop the leadership and the confidence to go along with it.”

Supporting Cast

Boccio and Barnett rank among the MOAC leaders in scoring, but Sellers has been especially pleased with his supporting cast.

“We have the kids that everybody’s knows now, Ava and Brinley,” Sellers said. “But I’m telling you, kids like Eliana Pelkey and Hailly Thrush and Ashtyn Wine and Asia Bechtel, these role players have been so good.

“Some of them are playing less minutes than last year and some of them started last year. It’s so unselfish and so rare and it’s probably what I’m most proud of.”