Feb. 17—Cumberland‘s women knocked off No. 23 Freed-Hardeman 57-44 with great defense to split the season series Thursday night at the Dallas Floyd Phoenix Arena/Cliff Ellis Court.
The Phoenix (9-13, 2-7 Mid-South Conference) played great team defense forcing Freed-Hardeman into rushed shots and turnovers. Cumberland didn’t light it up from the field, but drained five 3s all in the first half while holding Freed-Hardeman to 2-for-20 from deep.
Cu shot 34.8% from the field and went to the line 36 times making 20 free throws.
Kayla Gordon had a team-high 14 points picking seven from the free-throw line. Lindsey Freeman finished with 10 points and nine rebounds, Maddie Brillhart scored nine on two triples, and Faith Colston had seven and 10 boards. Emaleigh Tarpley added seven points and five rebounds.
Freed-Hardeman shot 28.3% from the field and struggled from deep. The Lady Lions turned it over 15 times that translated to 15 points for the Phoenix. Kaylee Odom provided most of the offense for Freed-Hardeman scoring 17 points with nine rebounds.
The Lady Lions also had to deal with foul trouble having three players foul out: KJ White, Kalea Fleming-Eckerle and Raegan Purvine. White finished with eight points and three rebounds.
The first quarter started slow with both teams playing to a 4-4 game with two minutes to play. Maddie Brillhart drained two threes and Tarpley added a point in the final minute of the quarter to lead 11-6.
During the second, the Phoenix kept putting pressure on the Lady Lions forcing them into bad shots and turnovers. At the break, Freed-Hardeman had just 15 points.
Cumberland was able to score 18 points in the quarter on three made triples, one from Gordon, one from Colston and a halfcourt heave at the horn from Breon Oldham as the Phoenix brought a 29-15 lead in the half.
Freed-Hardeman started the second half with a 6-3 run to cut it to an 11-point deficit at 32-21. Eubanks drained a jumper. But Kalea Fleming-Eckerle drilled a 3 the next possession for the Lady Lions. Cumberland scored the next three points on a made free throw from Gordon and then a steal and a two from Colston.
After a free throw from Freed, Cumberland scored the final five points of the quarter to take a 17-point lead into the fourth quarter, up 42-25.
Freed-Hardeman fought in the fourth quarter bringing it all the way down to a six-point game, but Cumberland did enough down the stretch knocking down free throws to get a ranked win.
The Phoenix will be in action today with their final regular season road game of the year at Bethel.
