GRANBY — Jess Patruno knew the look.

She watched fellow Granby girls lacrosse senior Kate Sarnacki handle the ball behind the cage Thursday against Chicopee Comp.

In that offensive position, Sarnacki looks to either attack the cage herself or draw the defense and dish to Patruno.

The look told Patruno to crash the net. Sarnacki worked her way behind the net and threaded a pass over her defender’s stick to Patruno’s shooting pocket.

She ripped it past the Comp goalie for her 100th career point with 12 minutes, 12 seconds to halftime. It gave the lead back to the Rams, and they didn’t relinquish it in a 13-8 win.

“I’m so happy. Last week I realized how close I was,” Patruno said. “Obviously it’s a big milestone, but I’d rather share my points with my team than just do something for myself.”

After the ball hit the net, Patruno peeled away over her right shoulder and immediately found Sarnacki waiting for a hug.

“She’s my best friend so obviously we know each other really well, and we’ve been playing sports since we were younger,” Patruno said. “I think that since we’ve played so much together we know how each other works.”

Her goal, the third of seven she scored in the game, put Granby up 5-4. She scored three of the Rams’ first five goals and helped them break three ties during that stretch. Patruno has 93 goals in her career.

The Rams (6-4, 4-1 Pioneer) scored three straight goals leading into halftime, and Sarnacki sent them to the break ahead 7-5.

She finished the game with five goals and five assists, including assist No. 100 of her career to Patruno with 1:44 left to put Granby up 12-7.

“It’s really special because we are best friends. I think the chemistry carries from outside onto the field,” said Sarnacki, the program’s all-time leading scorer with 277 goals. “It’s a lot of instinct, and I think she has that instinct. I know where she’s gonna be and when to hit her.”

Granby stretched its lead by controlling possession. The Rams won 18 draws compared to four for Comp (4-4, 4-1 Pioneer), and picked up 28 ground balls against the Colts’ five.

“They just owned the ground-ball battle. They had every ground ball,” Comp coach Dan Falvey said. “If you don’t have the ball, you can’t win games.”

Granby goalie Jenna Barthlow kept the Colts from building offensive momentum with nine saves. She stopped a breakaway after Comp had cut the lead to 7-5 with 21:20 left, and Granby scored the next four goals.

“I tell them that the energy has to run from end line to end line, and today we saw that,” Granby coach Sallie Gilliland said.

The victory put both teams at 4-1 in the Pioneer League. They split their two meetings this season after Comp won in early April.

“We knew we needed to win to get the title or share it,” Sarnacki said. “So we were more passionate this time.”

Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com.

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