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A game that featured a combined 81 baskets and 16 three-pointers came down to free throws. Fenwick made them. Marist didn’t.

A pair of free throws by Fenwick senior forward Eva Brundage made the difference as the No. 9 Friars upset No. 5 Marist 99-97 Saturday in overtime. Brundage’s foul shots with 1.6 remaining in the extra period handed the RedHawks their first loss at home in over a year in an East Suburban Catholic Conference showdown.

“We just played strong. We played fast,” Brundage said. “That’s our game this year.”

After Brundage’s free throws, Marquette recruit Je’Taun Rouse took the game’s last shot, but the 5-foot-8 guard missed a three-pointer at the buzzer. Leading scorers from each team established career highs as the Friars (8-0, 2-0) pushed the pace with their two-year-old Fenwick Frenzy offense.

Fenwick coach Dave Power attempts to score 80 points a game by attempting 40 two-point baskets and 40 threes. He also used 12 players with mass substitutions during the game.

Rouse scored 20 of her 37 points in the second half, but made one basket in overtime for Marist (8-1, 1-1). Jade Owens scored three of Fenwick’s four baskets in overtime to finish with 28 points, 22 in the second half. Owens’ driving layup put the Friars ahead 94-90 and Brundage (17 points, five rebounds) scored the game’s final five points for the Friars.

“I’ve never seen a game like that,” Owens said. “It was a tremendous team effort. Everyone in the game contributed.”

The game ended at 88-88 in regulation on Illinois-bound Leah Bolton’s free throw with 9.9 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Bolton made one of two fouls shots and ended a streak of nine consecutive missed free throws in the game for the RedHawks.

Fenwick had two opportunities to win the game at the end of the fourth, but Owens missed a layup and Maya Garland (17 points, six rebounds) missed a three-pointer to send the game into OT.

The Friars won both of their overtime games last season, the first ended with a 101-91 win over Oak Park-River Forest Dec. 14. On Saturday, Marist was on a pace to score nearly 120 points after leading 28-22 to end the first quarter. In the third, Fenwick outscored the RedHawks 28-22.

“It was a crazy, amazing high scoring game,” Rouse said. “I enjoyed it.”

“We’re a running team too,” Marist coach Mary Pat Connelly said. “We wanted to (limit) plays for Jade Owens, Maggie Reilly and the Garland kid. (The end) was a matter of who was in the best shape. If we made free throws, it may have been a different outcome.”

Marist led 36-22 in the second half while the Friars went without a basket for more than five minutes.

Eight players in the game reached double figures scoring, including Bolton (23), Bria Stallworth (20) and Lizzie Zaleski (13) for Marist and Jennifer Mackowiak (10) for Fenwick.

Marist shot 44 of 69 from the field, including 3-of-8 from three-point range, while Fenwick was 37-for-74, 13-for-36 on three-pointers. But the RedHawks were 6-for-16 at the free-throw line to 12-for-24 for Fenwick.

“This was exciting,” Power said. “What I have been trying to tell people is that with this system, against teams like Marist, you can see how it works. Now you can see how it works.”