Given the monumental success of the Freedom boys and girls basketball teams over the years, whenever one or both accomplish something they havent in 15 years, it deserves notice.

That was the case Friday at rival Patton, as the Patriots programs completed Northwestern 3A/4A Conference regular-season titles in the same season for the first time since 2001-02.

The FHS squads have won league tournament titles in the same year multiple times since then, most recently in 2009-10 and 2011-12, and even reached regionals together twice in the last three years.

But it had been a while since a night like Friday.

The Patriots (21-2, 13-1) toppled the Panthers for a 20th straight time without a loss to claim the NWC in outright fashion. They had already sealed the No. 1 seed and at least a share of the league crown earlier in the week.

The win was 11th-year FHS coach Casey Rogers 225th of his career.

Any time you win a championship, its a pretty special feeling, Rogers said. This was our second one of the year with the Christmas tournament championship. But conference regular season is special because its a several-month grind. Youve got to show up 14 different times and try to win night in and night out. Hopefully tonight took care of some things where we can play at Freedom for a while.

Im proud of the guys. Theyre very deserving. Its an interesting mix of a team. Theres a lot of experience, but weve got some youth too, and we battled some injuries.

The opening period featured three lead changes and one tie. Freedom surged to a 25-15 edge on a Fletcher Abee transition basket, but Cody Davis did his best to keep the hosts in the game, scoring 15 early points and pulling Patton (12-12, 7-7) back within 27-23 midway through the second quarter.

Freedom finally broke free when seven straight Abee points made it 48-31 midway through the third. Consecutive Michael Ervin assists to Michael Logan for a 3-pointer and to Cam Edmonson in the post gave Freedom its largest lead at 61-37 late in the decisive third period.

Patriots big men Edmonson finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds and Tobias Kanipe with 16 points and eight boards.

Tobias has been playing so well lately, and Cams been giving us good minutes off the bench, Rogers said. Those two are giving us some consistent scoring inside the paint which weve got to have. Were balanced and dangerous behind the 3, but those two guys are adding some stuff for us.

Abee scored 13, Jakari Dula added 12 and senior point guards Ervin (five) and Niguel Moore (six) combined for 11 assists. Davis led Patton with 19 points, Austin Spurlin got hot late to finish with 18 and Tripp Causby scored 12.

The Lady Patriots (22-1, 14-0) won their ninth straight game over the Panthers, 22nd straight game overall and 36th straight over NWC foes on Friday, and now they look to add to a 42-game home win streak.

The teams back-to-back undefeated NWC runs gives them four seasons with either zero of one conference loss in the last eight seasons.

We all knew this team had a chance to be special, and winning conference was a goal, Freedom coach Amber Reddick said. But I think they even exceeded my expectations a little bit by going undefeated again. There are some good teams in this conference, Watauga, Hickory, South Caldwell and St. Stephens, and it speaks to how hard these players have worked and how zeroed in they stay with their focus. They bring it every night.

Fridays game was just 6-5 on a Selby Baughman bucket in the lane for the hosts, giving her four points with three rebounds early.

Then Amaryah Corpening caught fire, scoring 17 by the time her consecutive field goals made it 29-11 in favor of the guests. The rebounding battle between the teams was tied 10-all after eight minutes, but FHS grabbed nine of the first 10 boards of the second period and forced seven Patton turnovers in the next five minutes.

I thought we were being a little lazy the first few minutes on the boards and not playing at the speed we wanted to, Reddick added. We just called timeout and talked about rebounding, offensively and defensively.

The score was 36-13 by halftime, and Corpening and classmate Ariyana Williams combined for all of the next 12 points. The mercy rule came midway through the fourth on a Blaikley Crooks 3 assisted by CC Davenport.

Corpening scored 21 points with game highs of eight rebounds and three steals, and Williams netted 18 with seven rebounds and three assists. Crooks, Davenport, Madison Bailey and Makayla Moore all grabbed five or more rebounds for Freedom.

Baughman led Patton (4-20, 2-12) with seven points and seven rebounds, Makaley Lovelace had five points and five boards and Beth LeCroy provided a team-high three assists.

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Freedom hoops teams down Patton to sweep NWC regular-season titles - Morganton News Herald