By PATRICK CASEY
The first game of the New Year for the Freeport Lady Bulldogs was a district contest that saw the host squad outlast Holmes County 78-71 as Katie and Megan O’Neal combined for 61 of the 78 points to steer the Walton County squad to the victory.
Freeport built a 16-11 lead after the first quarter as Megan O’Neal started her 31-point night with a pair of shots from beyond the arc while her sister, senior Katie, attacked the basket for 10 points in the first eight minutes.
Megan added 11 more points in the second quarter while the Bluedevils were losing the turnover battle and picking up a pair of technical fouls, one on a player and one on coach Devon Miles to aid the Bulldogs cause.
Holmes County slapped on their pressure defense to start the second half and rallied to tie the game only to see the Bulldogs shoot back ahead with a 53-48 advantage after three quarters of play. Katie O’Neal added 11 points in the period, making all five of her free throws to go with three made baskets from the floor with sister Megan adding two more shots from behind the arc.
The Bulldogs struggled with turnovers of their own in the second half, committing 13 of their 18 on the night after intermission. Freshman Devany Beard played a key role in the fourth quarter as she scored six of her eight points in the final frame, taking passes from teammates for lay-ups after the Bulldogs broke through the Bluedevils pressure, gambling defense.
Freeport hit nine shots from behind the arc compared to just four for the visiting team. Holmes County could not find their shooting touch from long range as they hit on 28-of-65 shots from the floor compared to Freeport’s 24-of-57. The Bulldogs won the free throw battle by making 21-of-26 compared to 11-of-15 for the visiting team.
Katie O’Neal finished with 30 points and had to play the fourth quarter cautiously as she was saddled with four fouls for most of the period. Ashley Knight added a pair of baskets that helped to keep the Bluedevils at bay with Laura Ham adding three points and Molly Head a pair of free throws.
Holmes County and their fans were not particularly happy with the officiating, a common problem for many Florida Panhandle road teams these days, but the Bluedevils likely had some rust in their shooting from not playing since before Christmas.
The Bluedevils got 14 points from Haley Taylor and Kendra Moses in losing to the Bulldogs for the second time this season.
Team Notes: Holmes County won the junior varsity contest 42-21. Freeport is now 12-2 overall and 3-1 against district foes but just 1-0 in the district standings as only certain games count amongst the five chosen to bear weight in the district. Freeport’s next four games will determine their district seeding, headlined by their home game with Chipley on Jan. 13 at 5:30 p.m.
