By REID TUCKER
The Lady Bulldogs look to be in top form to start the season, hauling in impressive wins against Ponce de Leon and Blountstown to get the 2014-2015 campaign rolling.
Freeport took to the road on the night of Tuesday, Nov. 11, to take on local rival Ponce de Leon in the season opener, edging the 2011 Class A state champions by a 75-64 margin. If the game against the Lady Pirates was a battle, the home game two days later against the Lady Tigers was a breeze. Freeport was unstoppable on its own floor, as the team wrecked Blountstown 60-27 without much apparent difficulty.
Even without de facto team leader Mary Kate Myrick, who is out for the year after suffering an injury in volleyball season, Freeport is showing all the early indications of being a tough team to beat on the hardwood. UWF signee Katie O’Neal led the Lady Bulldogs on both nights, putting up a staggering 37 points against PDL and 19 points against Blountstown, while her sister Megan provided the bulk of the support with 17 points in game one and 14 points in the second game. Laura Ham had a combined 18 points in the first two games of the week.
PDL – short last year’s seniors and scoring leaders Karlie Leathers, August Brown, Hannah Howell and Brittany Alford – got off to a slow start and didn’t really pick up steam until after the half, with the main struggle being a surfeit of turnovers: 15 in the first two quarters alone. Freeport broke a 7-7 tie to lead 13-9 at the end of Q1, and an 18-point performance by Katie O’Neal in the second quarter helped the Bulldogs keep a tenuous 34-30 lead going into the intermission. A solid showing from Lori Arrant (12 points on the night) and a trio of 3-pointers from Micala Fisanick (13 points) gave Ponce 17 of its 21 points in the second quarter.
It was a race in the third quarter, with the score ending up tied at 41-all with just less than 4:00 showing on the clock, and Ponce took its first lead of the contest with three minutes remaining thanks to an Arrant and-1. PDL high-scorer Delilah Bass (20 points) did the majority of the work in the second half, with four 2s and two successful trips to the foul line helping her squad carry a 56-51 lead into the final period.
Freeport made it 55-all shortly into Q4, but the game stalled as each team worked the perimeter to eat the clock. Molly Head found and opening and banked in a shot from the arch at 6:51 to go, giving the Bulldogs the lead they would not relinquish for the remainder of the game. Though Bass made it a close call at times, there was no stopping Katie O’Neal, who scored nine points from the floor and five from the stripe after the game became more physical in the final minutes, enabling Freeport to pick up the nine-point victory.
Turnovers from the opposing team again played into Freeport’s hands when they hosted Blountstown, but that game was much more of a one-sided affair from the get-go. Megan O’Neal did her work from 3-range that night, putting in three shots from the perimeter in the first period alone, while her sister pounded the paint for six points. Freeport led 21-5 at the end of the quarter, with Blountstown’s biggest contribution being every kind of turnover imaginable, from bad passes, wide shots, travelling penalties and some open steals.
The Bulldogs more or less coasted through the next two quarters on their way to a 46-24 lead by the end of the third. Hamm netted a neat 3-pointer with 3:17 to go in the game, and it was all over but the crying by then. Freeport got a running clock with two minutes to go, but that didn’t stop Katie O’Neal from scoring 10 points in the quarter to help her squad to the massive win.
