Freedom Nearly Claws Back, Loses 52-51

By Matt Brooks (Contact)

Friday, February 29, 2008

Down by nine points with six minutes left in Thursday's Virginia AA Region II semi-final matchup with Brentsville, Freedom-South Riding's Meixandra Porter took it upon herself to get her team back in the game.

The junior guard's lockdown defense on Brentsville star Kimmy Hopkins sparked a 10-0 Eagles run that gave them their first lead of the game with just over one minute remaining.

But Hopkins responded. The two-time Northwest District Player of the Year stole a pass from Porter to get the second-seeded Tigers within one, then blew by two Freedom defenders for the winning basket, ending the Eagles' season with a heart-breaking 52-51 defeat.

The Eagles (19-7) led 51-48 with 47 seconds left before Hopkins' steal and layup cut the lead to one. Freedom tried to spread the ball around to run the clock down on their ensuing possession but Alicen Heinrich's wide-open layup in the lane was too good to pass up. The senior forward missed the shot, setting up Hopkins' game-winning baseline drive and layup with 11.8 seconds left.

“Sometimes being such a young team -- we have eight freshman and sophomores on this roster -- you don't really know how to close games out,” Freedom coach Jason Eldredge said. “You saw it in the District tournament last Saturday. In this stage, I don't even know that we needed a shot attempt. We could've gone to the line and maybe tried to close it out, but the kids thought they we were open, went to take it to the hole and missed the shot.”

Freedom had a chance to take the lead back and got an open look for freshman forward Dionna Scott on a runner in the lane, but rimmed out. Scott got her own rebound but couldn't put up a clean shot and the ball went out of bounds to Brentsville.

“Dionna got in the lane wide open, got a great look,” Eldredge said. “She's a freshman who has hit big shots for us before … so we got the look, it just rimmed out.”

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Freedom Falls to Brentsville

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The Eagles welcome out the starting lineup just before their tipoff with the Tigers. (Matt Tobin)

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Meixandra Porter shoots a second quarter free-throw. She finished with seven points. (Matt Tobin)

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Freedom coach Jason Eldredge talks to Dionna Scott after making a free throw. Scott finished the game with 16 points. (Matt Tobin)

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Meixandra Porter (32) directs the Eagle offense in the third quarter. On top of her seven points, Porter had five steals. (Matt Tobin)

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Kelsey Buchanan shoots a fourth quarter free throw. She would finish the game with 13 points. (Matt Tobin)

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No. 32 Meixandra Porter drives in a layup in the fourth quarter. (Matt Tobin)

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The Eagle bench and its fans erupt as Freedom goes on a fourth-quarter run. (Matt Tobin)

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Dionna Scott attempts a crucial fourth quarter free-throw after connecting with a layup while being fouled. She made the free-throw to get her team to within a point. (Matt Tobin)

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With her team down by a point in the final seconds of the game, Kelsey Buchanan, No. 54, defends an inbound pass. (Matt Tobin)

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Freedom lines up for postgame handshakes while Brentsville celebrates its victory with fans. (Matt Tobin)

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The Eagles trailed by five points at the start of the fourth quarter, but back-to-back three-pointers from deep in the left corner by Chelsie Tooke stretched Brentsville's lead to nine. From there the Tigers (21-4) tried to run some clock but Porter's pesky defense in the backcourt forced three consecutive turnovers to get Freedom back into the game.

Porter fed the ball to Scott for back-to-back layups, plus fouls, to get the Eagles within one point, and Freedom took its first lead at 49-48 on Heinrich's layup with 3:20 remaining.

“I told my players, 'You let the lead go but you cannot give up, we've come too far,'” Brentsville coach Eugene Baltimore said. “I just said, 'Relax, it's not over.' Hopkins came up with that big steal and we set up our press and got a couple big stops.”

Hopkins, who scored 33 points in Brentville's Northwestern District Championship victory over Handley last week, finished with a game-high 20 for the Tigers. After scoring 16 in the first three quarters, she was shut-out for the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter by suffocating defense from Porter. But Hopkins then took matters into her own hands, forcing a turnover by Porter and scoring the game's final four points to lead the Tigers to victory.

“Porter did a great job and we didn't execute well because of her,” Baltimore said. “She's quick, she's athletic, she did a heck of a job. But then (Hopkins) found a way at the end. The whole team dug in, but she got the steal and found a way.”

Scott finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Eagles, who shot just 20-for-62 from the floor on the night. Sophomore Kelsey Buchanan finished with 13 points, 10 boards, eight blocks and five assists. The 6-foot-3 center frustrated Brentsville shooters all night and led the Tigers to take 22 three-pointers, eight of which they made. Heinrich also finished with 13 for the Eagles.

“I can't say enough about our effort,” Eldredge said. “Being down nine, it looks like they're trying to put the ball in the freezer to try to close us out. For us to climb back and go up three -- amazing.”

Notes: Brentsville advances to play Charlottesville in Saturday's Region II final in Monticello. The Black Knights defeated Loudoun County in overtime, 64-62, in the other semi-final game…It was the second one-point loss in three games for Freedom. They lost Saturday's AA Dulles District Tournament title game 48-47 to Loudoun County on a last-second prayer from Alissa Kain.

Tagged: 2008 Dulles Tournament, basketball, Freedom High School , post season

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