By PATRICK CASEY
The South Walton Seahawks used a smothering defense to grab a 61-18 road victory over county rival Freeport on Friday night.
Casey Perot scored 17 points while teammates Eve Heffron added 11 and Tayler Menard 10 as the Seahawks broke a two-game losing streak that closed out 2012.
South Walton (11-5) saw all seven varsity players contribute at least three or more points on the night as they raced to a 29-10 lead at the half.
The Seahawks hit 8-of-14 shots from the floor in the third quarter to stretch the margin to 48-18 after 24 minutes of competition.
Freeport, which got eight points from sophomore Mary Kate Myrick, had only three of their other six players score points as they lost their third consecutive game to fall to 6-9 overall.
South Walton limited Freeport to 7-of-40 shooting from the field and forced 19 turnovers from the Bulldogs as they lost to their neighbor to the south for the 12th consecutive time.
The Seahawks lit up the net on 24-of-51 shooting from the floor to go with 8-of-11 shots from the free throw line.
Game Notes: In his ninth season at the helm, Kevin Craig may have his best defensive team in his time at South Walton. The Seahawks are allowing only 30.8 points per game on defense through the squad’s first 16 games. Craig holds an 18-2 mark against Freeport and the Seahawks lead the series 18-4 since it began in 2003-04. The South Walton junior varsity earned a 32-16 win. The Glidewell family worked the game as officials as Danny Glidewell, along with daughter, Kayla, and son, Daniel, may have become the first father, daughter and son trio to officiate a game together in the state of Florida.