Freeport girls lock up 2nd in Section 1 with win over Burrell
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Monday, February 5, 2018 | 11:12 PM
The Freeport girls basketball team added to its playoff resume Monday as it closed out both Section 1-4A play and the regular season overall with a resounding 62-38 victory over Burrell.
“Overall, we hustled and played well,” Yellowjackets coach Fred Soilis said. “There still are some fundamental things we need to work on before the playoffs start, but it was a good way to finish (the regular season) up.”
Freeport (13-8, 10-2) finishes as the second-place team from Section 1. In addition to Monday’s win, the Yellowjackets, Soilis said, played a strong game in a 48-47 loss Friday to Hampton, the No. 2 team in the Tribune-Review’s Class 5A rankings.
The playoff pairings are expected to be released Tuesday, with the postseason games to begin a couple of days later. Soilis said he hopes to find a scrimmage or two with another playoff qualifier in that span.
For Burrell (5-12, 3-8), a six-year playoff streak came to an end Monday. The Bucs now will turn their attention to a senior-night matchup Thursday at home against section foe Valley before capping the season next Monday with a nonsection game at Riverview.
Seniors Brittany Dunn, Haley Matter, Faith Remich and Morgan Weeter will be recognized in connection with Thursday’s contest.
It was all Freeport early on as the Yellowjackets built a 17-2 lead at the end of the first quarter with eight points coming from sophomore Samantha Clark. Burrell missed all seven of its shots in the quarter and turned the ball over 11 times.
“We just didn’t protect the ball and get anything to fall early on like we needed to,” Burrell coach Meghan Volek said. “We talked about getting to the hoop and getting to the foul line, and we were settling for too many outside jumpers.”
The Bucs missed their first three shots of the second quarter before Dunn ended the drought with a 3-pointer at the 5-minute, 51-second mark.
But Burrell didn’t go away despite the slow start. It used a 12-6 run over the first 5:22 of the second half to trim a 16-point halftime deficit to eight at 35-27.
Freeport, however, answered with an 8-0 run over the remainder of the third quarter to regain control.
“I was proud with the way we fought to come back there in the third quarter,” Volek said. “We talked at halftime about coming out playing pressure defense, getting loose balls and making it count at the offensive end. For that time, we executed the game plan. When we got it under 10, I felt we were good to go. But they made a couple nice bounce passes inside to (Freeport senior) Jenna Manke. We just didn’t have an answer for her tonight.”
Manke had converted back-to-back layups to begin the run, and sophomore Madeline Clark and senior Asti Brestensky added baskets as Freeport led 43-27 heading to the fourth.
Manke had just five points at halftime, but she collected eight in the third and 10 in the fourth to finish with a game-high 23.
“We gave them a couple of open shots to get them back in the game in the third quarter,” Soilis said. “To their credit, they knocked them down and made a run at us. But we just kept pounding it back into Jenna, and she was unstoppable.”
Samantha Clark and sophomore Sidney Shemanski each added 12 points for Freeport, while Madeline Clark ended the game with 11.
Burrell junior Kaylen Sharrow tallied 15 points to go along with 12 rebounds, while Dunn added 10 points and nine rebounds.
Monday’s game was the final one at home for Manke, Brestensky and fellow senior Ashley Sullivan.
“It was great to see all three seniors score and go out on a positive note,” said Soilis, who pulled all three in the waning seconds to an ovation from the home crowd.
Brestensky finished with two points, while Sullivan got in the scorebook on a layup with 59 seconds left in the game.
“I was trying different things like taking a couple of outside shots or driving to the basket,” Sullivan said. “It wasn’t working for the longest time. It felt good to go out with some points tonight. It was just a great all-around win on senior night.”
Michael Love is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at mlove@tribweb.com or via Twitter at Mlove_Trib.
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