This picture, ladies and gentlemen, says it all. With less than 2 minutes into the game, Pelham High Lady Hornets superstar, Briunna Freeman scored her 1,000th point in her high school career. This momentous occasion took place, February 9, 2013, against the Brooks County Lady Trojans of Quitman, GA. It was just the second basket of the game when Freeman scored & the game was called to a halt to announce that she had just surpassed the 1,000 point marker. A standing ovation ensued following the announcement. Freeman went back to playing basketball as if nothing had happened, leading the Lady Hornets to a victory over the Lady Trojans. There are plenty more points to be scored by Freeman because she has two more years of her high school career left....YES, SHE'S ONLY A SOPHOMORE!!!
“They’re big. We just couldn't handle their post
players.” Pelham High School Lady
Hornets head coach, Antonia Tookes said of the Laney High Lady Wildcats, of
Augusta, GA…and big they were. The post
players of Laney stand at the heights of 6’ 3”, 6’ 3” and 6’ 2”, with another
big coming off the bench standing 6’ 0”.
Pelham’s tallest player, Timbreanna Hudson, is 6’ 0”.
The Lady Hornets season came to an
end in the Elite 8, losing to Laney, 59-40.
Pelham put up a fight but Laney’s post players proved to be too much for
the Lady Hornets. Pelham opened up the
game with Hilary Williams getting fouled.
She hit both free throws giving the Lady Hornets a 2-0 lead. That was the only lead Pelham would see all
night. The Lady Wildcats of Laney went
on a 7-0 scoring run within the next 2 minutes.
Pelham kept it close in the 1st quarter and was only down by
three to end the 1st quarter, 14-11.
Laney’s dominating post players took
over the game. They went on a 18-8
scoring run in the 2nd quarter, to bring the 1st half to
an end with a 13 point lead. 32-19 was
the score going into halftime.
The 3rd quarter opened up
with the Lady Hornets driving to the basket and causing the Lady Wildcats to
get into foul trouble. Making their free
throws would have kept Pelham in the game, but they missed 18. Briunna Freeman wowed the cantankerous crowd
by skying to get rebounds, blocking shots and sprinting from one end of the
court to the other end to make a basket.
The 4th quarter went back
and forth, with both the Lady Hornets and the Lady Wildcats trading
baskets. Pelham couldn't cut into
Laney’s lead. 59-40 was the score with
Laney winning moving on toward to the Final Four. Two of their powerhouse post players finished
with 16 points apiece. Freeman led the
Lady Hornets with 20 points, while Hudson put 13. Williams for Pelham had 4 points and Annie
Franklin finished with 3.
The Lady Hornets finished the season
with a winning record of 26-5. Tookes
told her team, “I’m proud of them and to stay positive. It’s only going to get better for the Lady
Hornets.”
They wanted it, and they got it. A chance to redeem themselves in the Elite 8
as the Pelham High Lady Hornets stung the Lady Buccaneers of McIntosh County
Academy, 63-42. The Lady Hornets came
out gunning on both offense and defense.
Timbreanna Hudson swatted away four of McIntosh’s shot attempts and put
up six points all within the first six minutes of the 1st
quarter. Hilary Williams blazed to the
rim all night putting six points on the scoreboard for Pelham. The Lady Hornets ended the 1st
quarter with a 13-6 lead and never looked back.
Pelham came out into the 2nd quarter with the same
mentality as the 1st quarter.
Williams put up nine more points by driving to the basket and drawing
fouls. She led the Lady Hornets with 15
points going into halftime, helping to put Pelham up over McIntosh County
Academy 31-17 at halftime.
The Lady Buccaneers of MCA staged a comeback in the 3rd
quarter. They forced Pelham to create
turnovers and held them to only nine points the entire quarter. McIntosh County cut into Pelham’s lead to
bring the score 40-31.
Briunna Freeman had had enough. The little momentum MCA had was switched back
to Pelham. Freeman scored the first 6
points of Pelham’s 8 points and ran away with it. The Lady Hornets outscored the Lady Buccaneers
23-11 in the 4th quarter to win round 2 of the GHSA Class AA State
Tournament. Freeman led all Lady Hornets
with 23 points, while Williams put 20 points and Hudson scored 15 points,
respectively. Annie Franklin chipped in
5 points on the night. The Pelham Lady
Hornets will travel to Augusta this week to take on the Lady Wildcats of Laney.
Good luck to the Lady Hornets as they
continue to push forward towards a state championship.
