FREEPORT \u2014 Freeport took over in the second half and rolled to a 58-45 victory against Lake Region to record a signature win in a Western Maine Conference girls\u2019 basketball game Thursday night.
After falling behind 20-10 in the first quarter, the Falcons outscored the Lakers by at least seven points in each of the next three. Freeport moved to 7-2 with its third consecutive victory.
\u201cThis is a big win for us,\u201d said Freeport Coach Mike Hart, in his third season. \u201cThis team has done a lot of good things since I\u2019ve started, but we haven\u2019t really beat an elite program like Lake Region.
\u201cTo be able to do that is huge, a good step for us.\u201d
Early on, it looked like Lake Region (5-4) was going to roll to another win over the Falcons.
Kristen Huntress, who scored all 11 of her points in the first quarter, scored six in the final 45 seconds of the quarter to propel the Lakers to their early 10-point lead.
\u201cI was so proud of (my players) for not letting that (run) be the theme for the game,\u201d Hart said.
Instead, the Falcons ran off the first 11 points of the second quarter to take a 21-20 lead with more than four minutes left in the half.
The lead seesawed until Freeport uncorked an 11-4 run to open a 38-32 lead with less than a minute left in the third quarter.
The Falcons played a solid half-court game at both ends.
\u201cWe wanted to keep pressure on the ball, but we chose to do it in the half court,\u201d Hart said. \u201cWe were running some double teams trying to force them to play a little fast.\u201d
\u201c(Freeport) played tremendous pressure defense and took us out of everything we wanted to do,\u201d Lake Region Coach Paul True said.
\u201cDefensively, they just took us out of our flow.\u201d
Freeport limited the Lakers to just three successful 3-point shots.
\u201cEven when you\u2019re on them, they can get a good shot,\u201d Hart said. \u201cWe switched some of our defensive screens so we could defense the 3-point arc.\u201d
During several sequences in the second half, all five Freeport players touched the ball before the Falcons finished the possession with a basket.
\u201cThat\u2019s what you want to happen,\u201d Hart said. \u201cIt expands the zone (defense) and creates gaps that we want to exploit.\u201d
Freeport\u2019s Taylor Rinaldi led all scorers with 14 points.
Megan Cormier, a junior who subbed in at forward, followed with 12 points. Regan Lynch added 10.
Lauren Jakobs scored 11 points for the Lakers. Chandler True had 10.
Play was ragged at the outset when both teams applied full-court defensive pressure. Lake Region went into the bonus when the Falcons committed their seventh team foul with more than a minute left in the first quarter, but the Lakers weren\u2019t able to take advantage if that situation.
\u201c(Freeport) continued to play very physical,\u201d True said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t get to the free-throw line and we began to play very tentative.\u201d
\u201cThat was a credit to Freeport,\u201d True added. \u201cThey played physical. They were the aggressor.
\u201cThey came after us, and we didn\u2019t respond very well.\u201d
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