HIGHLAND — On the longest night of the year, the Fredericktown Freddies girls basketball team may have experienced their longest second half of the season, as they fell to the host Highland Scots, 49-36 in a non-league rivalry matchup on Tuesday.
The Freddies started out shooting 7-for-11 as they got hot quickly, despite losing Jess Gable to a leg injury with the game tied in the first quarter. After Gable hobbled to the bench, Fredericktown responded by rolling up 11 unanswered points and taking its biggest lead of the game, 21-10. Lyndsay Briegal led the way for the Freddies with a pair of 3-pointers in the early going. Teammate Courtney Jackson (eight points) hit a bucket and was 3-for-3 from the free-throw line. Post player Hope Huvler (six points) added a pair of buckets in the Freddies’ outburst.
“I figured, after that first quarter, that (Highland head coach) Galen (Chapman) would go to his 1-3-1 zone,” said Fredericktown head coach Wes Elifritz. “Sure enough, he made a prophet of me. We weren’t able to execute our offense as well. We’re still trying to figure out where the gaps are and what’s a good shot against a zone. I give Highland credit. They played their 1-3-1 very well. We weren’t able to figure it out well.”
With less than 6:00 to go in the half, the Scots made their comeback. Shanay Gibson and Heather Thacker each dropped in a pair of baskets for the Scots to get them back to within a basket at the half, 25-23.
