Both Freedom squads move to 2-0 in league with key home wins

Both Freedom basketball teams gained key Northwestern 3A/4A Conference victories over South Caldwell on Tuesday night at Crump-Rogers Gymnasium in Morganton as each remained unbeaten early in league play.

In the varsity opener, junior forward Kaitlyn Hagmann and some clutch free-throw shooting keyed the Lady Patriots to a 55-49 win, before the Patriot boys had five players each score 15 or more points as they held on by a 94-92 margin.

After a first half that saw five lead changes, the Freedom girls (9-6, 2-0 NWC) rallied from a 35-26 deficit midway through the third period against a much-improved South team that is led by freshman Ava Anderson, who finished with a game-high 28 points.

Anderson scored each of South’s first eight points in the third period to account for the nine-point advantage, but Hagmann drained three 3-pointers and scored 11 points in a 5-minute stretch in which the hosts turned the game around with an 18-6 scoring run.

Freedom never trailed after the third trey from Hagmann, who scored 13 points (all after halftime) and shared team-high honors with seven rebounds.

Lady Patriots 21st-year head coach Amber Reddick called Hagmann “our unsung hero defensively,” and noted that “tonight, she was huge for us offensively in that second half.”

“I was just open, and my teammates hit me,” Hagmann said. “I try to stay out of the way on offense most of the time and let our guards do what they do and try to go grab rebounds. I was just fortunate to be open in the corner a few times, and I was hot, so they kept feeding me.”

Freedom iced the game by going 9 for 10 at the foul line over the final 5 minutes, with leading scorer Peyton Caldwell (24 points, three assists) going 7 for 8 late.

The Lady Patriots’ Ava Cooke (seven rebounds) and Haven Gladden (three assists) added eight points apiece.

The 2-0 start to league play is five-time state champion Freedom’s first in four years of the current, rugged league setup. The Lady Patriots are coming off consecutive fifth-place finishes in the six-team NWC despite having extended Reddick and the program’s streak of seasons with at least one state playoff win to a whopping 18.

“That is so big for them, and I think it’s giving us a lot of confidence as a team,” Reddick said. “Peyton is our workhorse, you kind of know what you’re going to get from her, but I just like how everybody’s stepping up around her ... playing tough defensively, getting rebounds, making big shots when we need them.”

The boys contest pitted the top two teams in the conference in both the latest HighSchoolOT.com 828 area code rankings (Freedom No. 7, South Caldwell No. 11) and NCHSAA RPI rankings (Freedom No. 8 in 3A West, South Caldwell No. 13 in 4A West).

Freedom (12-2, 2-0 NWC) snapped a three-game losing streak to South, who shared the NWC regular-season title last winter.

The Patriots never trailed after the first of five Braxton King 3s made the score 3-2 in the opening minutes. They led by nine at halftime and grew the margin to as much as 47-33 early in the third period before South cut it to 84-81 with just under 2 minutes to play.

But the outcome wasn’t quite as close as the score may indicate, with South making a buzzer 3 to account for the final two-point margin.

Amore Connelly fought foul trouble to lead the Patriots with 21 points. King Johnson added 20 points and five assists, Kobe Johnson had 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Amare Williams joined King with five made 3s and both supplied 15 points. King now has 12 made 3s over the past two games.

“That’s what makes us so hard to guard,” said Freedom coach Clint Zimmerman. “There’s no question we have quality depth, and we have guys that can do a lot of different things (with the ball on offense). But tonight, I thought so much of that came from defending.

“Down the stretch, we just made free throws, and when it got tight there, we stayed together. ... That helped us overcome not rebounding particularly well late where they got a lot of second-chance points. ... For us to compete at that level after being off for four days and not having practiced, I’m really proud of the guys. I like the fact that we played without excuses.”

Kobe Johnson, who scored all but two of his points in the second half, said he feels the win “sends a message to the league.”

“Amore had gotten in foul trouble, so with him going out, somebody had to step up and take the lead,” Johnson said. “I felt like stepping into that role was nothing new to me.”

Carter Anderson (24 points) and Tyler Cline (20) paced a South squad that had four players with 14 or more points and five total in double figures.

Draughn girls, boys defeat Dragons

The Draughn girls and boys both improved to 4-1 in Western Highlands 1A/2A Conference play courtesy of road victories over NCSSM-Morganton on Tuesday at North Carolina School for the Deaf.

In the girls game, the Lady Wildcats (9-5 overall) won by a 74-22 final behind 18 points from Taylor Holder, 15 from Jacey Davis, and 10 from Alexis Vasser. Kenley Berry added eight points for Draughn, which also received seven from Makenzie Powell and six from Mati Kincaid as it built a 24-5 lead after the first quarter, a 45-10 advantage at the half, and a 68-13 lead through three quarters on the way to its eighth double-digit win of the season.

On the other side, the Lady Dragons (0-10, 0-5 WHC) got 13 points from Hannah Xu.

In the late contest, the Draughn boys (5-9 overall) were led by Blair Cooper’s 18-point performance, with Cayden Lewis scoring 13, Noah Chrisco finishing with 12, and Connor Houston tallying 11. The Wildcats were up 16-15 at the end of the opening quarter before outscoring NCSSM-M (1-11, 0-5 WHC) 19-6 in the second period and 25-13 in the third en route to a 25-point triumph.

The Dragons’ leading scorer was Nate Gutschall with 15 points, while Bransen Pittman chipped in nine.

EB girls top Lincolnton

Kara Brinkley scored 20-plus points for the third consecutive game as the East Burke girls moved to 14-1 overall and 5-0 in Catawba Valley 2A Conference play thanks to a 63-19 road win over Lincolnton on Tuesday.

Brinkley outscored the Lady Wolves on her own as she finished with 22 points, while Braelyn Stilwell added 11 and Journi McDowell and Macy McNeil each scored nine. The Lady Cavaliers enjoyed a 32-7 lead at the end of the first quarter, a 46-11 halftime advantage, and a 62-16 lead entering the final frame, during which the teams combined for just four points while playing with a running clock.

In the boys game, Lincolnton posted its highest point total of the season as it cruised to a 95-57 victory over EB (7-8, 1-4 CVAC), which lost for the third time in four games and fell to 2-6 since winning five of its first seven contests. The Wolves’ LJ Smith led all scorers with 37 points, while Tyler McClain and Nehemiah Thompson finished with 21 and 13, respectively.

The Cavs trailed 21-16 after the opening quarter, 46-30 at the half, and 66-50 through three quarters before falling by a 38-point final margin. EB’s lone double-figure scorer was Dautry Ragle with 17 points, while Owen Hartmann scored nine and Carter Bennett, Jay Dixon, and Barger Shook chipped in eight apiece.