It pays to have a big first quarter, to which the Freedom Patriots can attest, after their 60-49 victory over North Penn in the first round of PIAA State Class 6A girls’ basketball playoffs last Friday at Easton Area Middle School.

“We talked a lot about coming out and not having close starts like we did in districts because it would eventually catch up to us, so we came out fast and saw what we can do when we set the pace,” said Freedom guard Brenna Ortwein. “Teams don’t want to run with us, and we knew if we boxed out, we could get them to have stupid fouls.”

The Knights did, in fact, commit 10 fouls in the first half compared to the Patriots’ four fouls.

“It comes down to that first quarter where we got ourselves into that 10 point hole,” said North Penn coach Jen Carangi. “At this level, you can’t get away with it, and 99% of the time it’s going to hurt you, and tonight it did.”

All five of Freedom’s starters combined for 15 points in the first quarter, while Valerie McGriff had two points for the Knights, but after that, North Penn went basket to basket with the Patriots.

“In the second quarter, we kind of got baffled by their defense, so in the fourth quarter, we knew what would happen if we rushed it. We had to keep our ten point lead, so that’s what we did,” said Ortwein.

Kokolus opened the third quarter with a three pointer, and tallied nine points in the eight minutes.

“Our game plan was to try and limit 23 (Jennifer Kokolus), number 3 (Ortwein), and number 10 (Kailey Turpening). In the first half, we held 23 to six points. In the second half, she exploded,” said Carangi. “As soon as it became a full court game, she’s very mobile, she wants to get to the rim, and she got to do that a lot more when we weren’t sitting in a half court set.”

Abby Plaugher’s three pointer for North Penn, in addition to scoring three more points after being fouled on a layup, kept the Knights on par with the Patriots.

North Penn’s offensive spark continued into the fourth quarter, but Freedom’s offense responded point for point.

“Tonight, we can be happy and celebrate, but tomorrow at practice, we’re going to come out and work because the next round’s going to be even harder,” said Kokolus, who scored 24 points for the Patriots.

This Tuesday, Freedom took on Central Bucks West in the second round of playoffs, which was played past Press deadlines.