Freeport 48, Sterling 34: The thought of a “Sterling curse” can finally be to put to rest.
Even though for the first half, it almost seemed like the Freeport girls basketball team started to shoot like it from the free-throw line.
But Courtney Shiffer (game-high 21 points, four blocks, three steals), Kelsey Hoefer (nine points, 2-of-2 FTs), Katie Norman (nine points, 2-of-2 FTs) and Suporia Dickens (nine points, 3-of-6 FTs) each made them in the second half when needed most as the Pretzels (27-3) beat Sterling, 48-34.
Shiffer finished 9-of-15 from the line, but neither she nor the rest of her teammates could buy a free throw in the first half. And she couldn’t explain why.
“I don’t know,” said Shiffer when asked to explain. “Sometimes you just have off nights in certain parts of the game. Tonight, it was our night to be off in free throws.”
Norman made her two attempts to give the Pretzels their first double-digit lead at 29-18 and Dickens redeemed herself for missing her first three attempts by knocking two down in the fourth quarter with 5:29 left.
“I try not to address it (free throws) too much, because it’ll get in their heads more,” Freeport coach Ryan Pierce said. “But we made them when we needed to.”
The Pretzels led in the first quarter with a 10-2 run with 3:39 left. That lead could have been extended had Freeport made their free throws and not turn the ball over with as much frequency.
Sterling made a few easy buckets inside, and its 6-foot-1-sophomore center Morgan Martells (team-high 12 points) scored eight first-half points as Freeport’s offense slowed in the second quarter.
“We didn’t have as much movement as we had in the first quarter,” Shiffer said. “I think our lack of movement slowed us down from scoring.”
Freeport finally had its most comfortable lead after Norman made the team’s third 3-point attempt of the night for a 41-28 lead.
That shot buried the game and the Sterling curse once and for all, even though the team never chose to believe in its existence to begin with.
“We never thought anything of it,” Norman said. “Hopefully people will stop talking about it now.”
Freeport will play Hampshire Monday at 6 p.m. in the Marengo Sectional semifinal.
-Joey Baskerville, GateHouse News Service
