Freedom girls conquer Lady Cavaliers

The Freedom High School Lady Patriots' defensive intensity stayed intact for 32 minutes in Wednesday night's SMAC-7 basketball semifinals contest against East Rutherford. Freedom conquered the Lady Cavaliers, a squad that twice this season had made comebacks bringing the contests close at the end, with a 64-27 triumph at Patriots Gym in Morganton.
"Our defense is our bread and butter," said Freedom head coach Amber Fox. "We have gotten to a point where we have a competitive shell drill every day in practice to see who is going to play on defense. The defense feeds our offense."
Freedom, ranked No. 10 in this week's NCPreps.com/HS Media Basketball 3A Poll, improved to 20-4 on the season. The Lady Patriots have won 11 consecutive games and remain unbeaten in 2010.
Freedom was dominant from the start. The Lady Patriots jumped out to an early 9-0 advantage with offensive production from five different players. Seniors Brittiany Roberts (assist) and Keonna Lewis (field goal) teamed for the game's first points. Junior Tooey Pearson followed with a three-pointer off a pass from Chelsea Connelly.
Junior post player Jewel Walker sank two free throws and CC Connelly drilled a 10-foot field goal to put the Lady Patriots up 9-0 just 3:12 into the contest.
East Rutherford answered with a 6-0 run before Lewis, off a dish from freshman Imani Williams, hit an inside basket to conclude the opening frame with Freedom leading 11-6.
Freedom's defensive pressure kept the visitors on their heels all evening. The Lady Patriots scored the first six points of the second quarter.
Freedom held East Rutherford scoreless for 7½-minutes. The Lady Cavs broke that silence with a field goal by Tamara El-Amoor with 4:50 left in the half.
The Lady Patriots went on a 9-2 run to push their lead to 16 points (26-10) with 2:35 left in the second period.
East Rutherford post player Kaziah Miller (team-high 12 points) scored back-to-back field goals before Freedom sank 6-of-8 free throws along with a field goal by CC Connelly in the final two minutes.
Senior Yolanda Connelly made two free shots, CC Connelly connected on three and Lewis sank one to push the Lady Pats advantage to 20 points, 34-14 at the half.
Walker created two Lady Cavs turnovers by taking two defensive charges in the game. The junior post player leads the state in that category.
Freedom started the third quarter just where the girls left off in the first half. The Lady Patriots scored the first nine points (two free tosses by Lewis, field goal by Walker, basket by CC Connelly off a steal and a trifecta by Roberts) to extend the lead to 29 points.
East Rutherford responded with a 6-0 run before the Lady Patriots ended the third on a 10-0 run capped by a three-pointer at the buzzer by Williams. Freedom led 53-20.
Williams (6 points) made an old-fashioned three-pointer on an acrobatic move near the basket after swiping the basketball ball near midcourt. Freedom led 61-20 at that point with 4:28 remaining.
Freedom picked up some important bench play from Kayla Nelson (3 points, rebound), Hayley Dale (rebound), Melissa Collett (3 boards), Tyra Kirkpatrick (rebound), Charnell Scott (assist), Erin Phillips (defense) and Sarah Yamouti (defensive rebound, assist).
Fox said, "Our starters did a good job of building the lead, but our reserves came in and gave us some really good minutes. They are playing scrappy and are not intimidated. This helps us at practice and in a game."
Freedom connected on 19-of-25 (76 percent) free throws. The Lady Patriots dished out 13 assists (CC Connelly 4, Roberts 3, Williams 3, Yamouti, Scott, Pearson).
Freedom will face No. 2 seed Shelby in the SMAC-7 finals at 6:30 p.m. Friday in Patriots Gym. The Lady Golden Lions, ranked No. 4 in this week's 2A girls poll, are 21-2 on the season. Shelby's only two losses have come to the Lady Patriots.

SMAC-7 Girls Tournament Semifinals
Freedom 64, East Rutherford 27
East Rutherford 6 8 6 7 — 27
Freedom 11 23 19 11 — 64
East Rutherford (27): Kaziah Miller 12, T. El-Amoor 8, Lattimore 1, Watkins 5, Camp 1.
Freedom (64): Chelsea Connelly 15, Jewel Walker 15, K. Lewis 9, B. Roberts 6, I. Williams 6, Y. Connelly 5, T. Pearson 5, K. Nelson 3, Phillips, Scott, Yamouti, Dale, Kirkpatrick, Collett.