Freeport girls hang with No. 1 North Catholic before falling

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, January 26, 2018 | 12:12 AM

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Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic got the opening tip in Thursday's Section 1-4A matchup with Freeport, and Dani Short converted a layup after seven seconds.

The Trojanettes built a nine-point lead two minutes into the game, and it looked as if the home team might put the clamps down on the Yellowjackets.

But Freeport didn't go quietly.

Several pushes over the course of the contest kept the Yellowjackets within range of the No. 1-ranked team in Class 4A. North Catholic, however, made the necessary stops on defense and plays on offense to earn a 47-33 victory.

“We showed a lot of resiliency coming back from 11-2 early,” said Freeport coach Fred Soilis, whose team fell to 10-6 overall and 7-2 in conference play. “We climbed our way back and had chances to make it closer at halftime.”

Madeline Clark drained a 3-pointer with 3:14 to play before halftime to pull the Yellowjackets within 24-17. However, they didn't score another point in the half. A jumper from Tess Myers with 43 seconds left in the second quarter clock put North Catholic up nine, an advantage it took into halftime.

“Freeport played well, and I thought they had a good gameplan against us,” said North Catholic coach Molly Rottmann, who earned her No. 400th victory with the Trojanettes.

“There were some things we didn't do as well as we would've liked. We didn't contain on defense. We were lunging and weren't rebounding well. There are some things we need to be aware of, and it's a nice little wake-up call for us. We have (Bishop) Canevin on Saturday, so we better get some things straightened out.”

The Trojanettes struggled from the free-throw line in the first half, converting 2 of 9 attempts. But things turned around in the second half, as they sank 9 of 10.

The Yellowjackets reduced their deficit to 30-22 on a layup from Asti Brestensky with 4:09 left in the third quarter, but CWNC responded with a 7-2 run to close the quarter. Kylee Lewandowski went 4 for 4 from the line in the final two minutes of the quarter — she finished with a game-best 13 points — as the Trojanettes led 37-24 heading to the fourth.

Reserve guard Cassie Foster made two free throws to start the fourth and added a jumper three minutes later to lift North Catholic to its largest lead of the game at 41-26.

Short and Tess Myers added 12 points each for the Trojanettes. Senior forward Jenna Manke led Freeport with nine points and 10 rebounds.

Despite the loss, Soilis said he was happy with what he saw after Freeport lost 60-22 to North Catholic last month.

“They have a good collection of players, and we showed we could play with them,” he said. “We're a different team from when we played them the first time. We didn't back down. We were in this game pretty much the whole time. A few plays here and a few plays there could've turned the page for us. I am proud of what they did.”

Freeport, which clinched a playoff spot with Monday's win over Highlands, hosts section rival Knoch on Monday. The Knights improved to 6-2 in section play with a 55-37 victory over Burrell on Thursday.

“We have four games next week, two section and two nonsection,” Solis said. “They will be tough, but we just want to take care of the first game on Monday and go from there.”

Michael Love is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at mlove@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Mlove_Trib.

Tags: Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic, Freeport, North Catholic