The Freeport girls basketball team was well aware of what was at stake for its opposition coming into Thursday night’s game against Knoch.
“Yesterday at practice, we prepared very hard,” freshman Sydney Reiser said. “We knew it was going to be a big game, knew Knoch was going to try and take us down, and we put our minds to it.”
All Knoch, which had won three of its last five, needed to do was enter “The Hive” on Freeport’s senior night, escape with a win and it would be off to the WPIAL playoffs.
Led by Reiser’s 10 points and a swarming defense, the Yellowjackets (12-9, 6-6) cruised to a 42-22 win and sent the Knights (4-17, 4-8) home on the outside looking in.
“We had a chance to control our destiny and make the playoffs. We just didn’t show up tonight,” Knoch coach Shane McGraw said.
It was tough sledding for both teams as the contest got underway.
The Yellowjackets moved the ball fluidly in the halfcourt but could not find a weakness in the armor of the Knights’ man-to-man defense.
“We knew they were going to come out hard, but we also knew we had to dig down and fight, knock down shots and get to the paint to get the win,” Freeport senior Nia DiSanti said.
Knoch, for how well it played defensively, could get almost nothing going on offense.
Reiser scored seven of her points in the first quarter to help spot Freeport a 10-5 lead at the end of the frame.
Heading into the second quarter, the Knights switched from their man defense to a 3-2 zone, looking to prevent Freeport from getting easy layups.
It didn’t work out the way McGraw thought it would as Freeport poured it on from behind the arc. Sophia Glass and Lilly Holloway made a pair of 3s each, and Reiser made one.
“There was some confusion on our part with switches and ball screens,” McGraw said. “We were just trying to prevent them from getting easy layups. We ended up giving them open looks at the 3-point line, and they started to hit those shots. Probably a mistake on my part.”
Said Freeport coach Jason Kerr: “We work a lot of situations in practice, and they did a lot of switching between man and zone the last time we played and we were prepared for it.”
Taking advantage of the opportunity, the Yellowjackets outscored the Knights, 19-6, in the second quarter to build a 29-11 halftime lead.
It was a familiar feeling for the Knights, as the team has had problems scoring all season.
“That’s how it’s gone for us this season,” McGraw said. “We just weren’t able to put the ball in the basket as often as we wanted.”
Compounding the issue for the Knights were turnovers. They totaled 11 in the first half — seven in the second quarter — and finished the evening with 16.
Freeport was in a full-court pressure the majority of the second quarter.
“We were making sure we put the pressure on the ball. If they can’t get the ball down the court, they can’t score,” DiSanti said. “As long as we pressured them, we knew we could force turnovers and get points off of them.”
The second half saw Knoch play better, but the closest the Knights got came at the 3:30-minute mark of the fourth quarter, when they cut Freeport’s lead to 18.
The Yellowjackets didn’t have the same scoring touch they had in the first half, scoring just nine points in the third quarter and four in the fourth. Most of that was attributed to the large lead.
“Once we were up by 25, we did a lot of subbing to get a lot of players in the game, get them some action,” Kerr said. “Knoch’s a good neighbor, so we wanted to keep it respectable.”
Sophia Glass made three 3-pointers and finished with nine points, and DiSanti and Holloway contributed six each for the Yellowjackets.
On the coldest of shooting nights, Neah Ewing led Knoch with four points.
Despite the loss, McGraw said he was proud of his team and the way it played this season.
“We have a great group of girls,” McGraw said. “We just have to continue to improve our skill, get better. We enjoyed the season we had.”
The win helped Freeport stop a slide, during which it had lost three of its last five, and it couldn’t have come at a better time as the playoffs approach.
“Our goal coming in was to get ourselves ready in a competitive game and do our best because we need to prepare for the playoffs,” Kerr said.
Added Reiser: “It was a way for us to jump back and get our energy levels back to where they needed to be. We’re looking forward to the playoffs and taking teams down.