Freedom’s girls’ basketball team earned its second victory of the season against Allen, 48-40, on Saturday after defeating Dieruff last Thursday.

The Patriots took a 29-17 lead at halftime, and it was the same offensive play the Pates repeated that caught the Canaries off-guard.

“It’s one of our newer plays we put in this year but we did a good job getting the ball behind the defense,” said Freedom senior Jennifer Kokolus, who had the ball fed to her underneath. “That’s what you have to do against aggressive teams, so we did a really good job hitting the baseline and hitting the middle. I got passes from Brenna [Ortwein], and Kailey [Turpening] had some good passes tonight. We really found the open person a lot.”

Kokolus scored 20 points in the first half, including a deep three at the buzzer to end the second quarter.

Allen came back in the third quarter to hit four threes, two by T’nyah Riggins and two by Shanaiya Ellis.

“We became impatient and bad shots usually go the other way and they end momentum. They got on a run,” said Freedom coach Dean Reiman.

The Canaries also changed up their defense in the second half.

“We figured they were going to come out in zone and we knew they were going to be aggressive. Allen is always aggressive,” said Kokolus. “We kind of went in between a matchup and a man, and we needed to talk more and have awareness of who was hot because in the second half, their shooters were hot.”

Allen tied the game with 5:50 remaining in the fourth quarter on a shot by Lamiyah Carter.

The Pates responded with threes by Kokolus and Turpening.

“Kokolus hits that big shot when you need a senior to step up, and then Kailey hits a shot, and then I have a lot of faith that they’re going to convert free throws down the stretch,” said Reiman. “When the game’s on the line, I have a lot of faith in them that they’re going to execute.”