By PATRICK CASEY
The Freeport girls basketball team won a key district contest against the Chipley Tigers as senior Katie O’Neal scored 42 points, making 25-of-28 shots from the charity stripe, in a game that wasn’t decided until the final two minutes of overtime in a 61-53 victory for the hosts squad.
Freeport held a 17-11 lead after the first quarter as Megan O’Neal hit a pair of three-point shots early with sister Katie providing 11 points of her own.
Chipley got off to a slow start as last year’s state runner-up made only 4-of-16 shots from the floor while committing seven turnovers against a determined foe.
The Tigers fought back in the second period to tie the game at 25-all at intermission as Freeport could connect on only 3-of-11 shots from the field while senior guard Amanda Paschal got hot, scoring nine points during that time, to rally the Washington County club.
The third quarter saw each team put up 10 points over the eight-minute span with Katie providing all 10 points the Bulldogs would score that quarter, while Paschal added eight more points to her total for a 35-all deadlock after three periods of play.
Freeport pulled away in the fourth quarter as Laura Ham drilled a key three-point shot with Megan O’Neal adding one of here own. Katie O’Neal remained vigilant at the free throw line, making all 10 of her attempts to keep the Bulldogs in front.
Freeport had a four point lead in the final minute of play only to see Megan mistakenly commit an intentional foul with a foul to give that resulted in a pair of Paschal free throws to trim the lead to two points. The Tigers then used a rebound off the ensuing possession to score again in the final seconds and knot the game at 51-all to force the game into overtime.
The Bulldogs picked up where they left off in the extra frame as Megan drilled four more free throws and made a pair of baskets from the interior to help the Bulldogs to the lead. Molly Head came up with a pair of shots from the charity stripe to help extend the lead while the Tigers had a pair of costly turnovers combined with missing three free throws as the Bulldogs pulled out the win.
Chipley got 26 points from Paschal and 12 from Karlisha Works in the loss while having to finish the game with just four players on the court as four members of the eight that were dressed to compete for the varsity fouled out during the game.
Katie finished with 42 points while Megan tallied 12 with Head scoring four and Ham three. The Tigers finished with 20 turnovers to 16 for the Bulldogs with Freeport hitting 14-of-49 shots from the field but a staggering 27-of-35 at the free throw line. Chipley was 21-of-66 from the field but just 6-of-15 from the charity stripe as the loss to the Bulldogs snapped a nine-game winning streak for the Tigers against Freeport.
Freeport also added a 70-34 win against Blountstown on Jan. 12 and a 61-43 decision over South Walton on Jan. 14 to their resume last week to earn three victories in three days as the squad improved to 17-2 overall on the year.
Freeport hosts Ponce de Leon on Thursday night in the squad’s final regular season home game before traveling to face Poplar Springs on Saturday night to wrap up the regular season.
Freeport will be the top seed in the District 3, Class A tournament that will be held in Baker next week with the Bulldogs playing a semi-final contest on Jan. 29. A win in that game would put the Bulldogs into the state playoffs in February.
Team Notes: Chipley is 21-6 against Freeport in the last 27 meetings between the two schools. Freeport won the junior varsity contest 29-26. Megan O’Neal had 20 points with Katie adding 16 in the Bulldogs win over South Walton on Wednesday. Freeport’s last appearance in the state playoffs came in 2006-07 with the Bulldogs losing to Tim Alford and the Ponce de Leon Pirates in the first round 58-36.
