A great win for a young team

The Hononegah Fieldhouse saw the Hononegah Lady Indians get a hard-fought 55-48 win over a talented Freeport Pretzel team Friday night, Dec. 13, 2024.

Friday was a basketball battle from the opening tip. The first quarter went back and forth, but the Indians made four 3-point shots and gain a 17-9 lead. The Pretzels came back within a bucket midway through the 2nd quarter behind the stellar play of their starting backcourt of sophomore Paityn London - 2nd team all-state performer last year at Freeport Aquin and junior point guard Aaliyah Martin. A late 7-1 run happened after Martin got her 3rd 1st half foul, pushing the Indian's lead to 30-23 at the half.

So far this season, Hononegah has come out of the halftime locker room with a good plan and jumped on their opponents. However, this Freeport squad withstood the Indians push and got help when junior Jordan Dimke picked up her third foul and sat down for a few minutes after 5:13 of the third quarter. The quarter ended with Hononegah leading 45-37.
The final quarter was what you would have expected between 2 of the upper-level teams of the NIC-10 conference: swings in momentum, intense action from both sides, and competitors doing what competitors do: compete for every ball, rebound, and inch on the court.

Jordan Dimke had the biggest shot of the game with the score 48-45 with 1:58 left in the game she pushed the Hononegah lead out to 51-47, and they were able to outlast Freeport taking home the win 55-48 behind 20 points from freshman Ainsley Hughes and 13 from Jordan Dimke.

Coach Jason Brunke said the game was “a great win for a young team.” He also mentioned that “they knew Freeport wouldn’t go away.”