CRANBERRY TWP — As head coach of a program that won a state championship last March, Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic girls basketball coach Molly Rottmann knows there is sometimes a difference between a winning effort and a fundamentally sound one.

She settled for one out of two Monday night.

The Trojanettes built a 20-point lead in the first quarter, then played nearly even with visiting Freeport before claiming a 64-42 Section 1-AAAA victory.

“Winning is good, but we did not play well tonight,” said Rottmann. “We looked rusty and shot the ball poorly.”

Part of Rottmann's frustration stemmed from 22 turnovers.

“We have to understand that when we play pressure defense, it does not mean that we have to be frantic on offense,” Rottmann said.

Senior forward Sam Breen scored 12 of her game-high 24 points in the first quarter and CWNC entered the second period with a 24-4 lead.

That's when Freeport's shooters began sinking shots. They were just 1-of-10 from the field in the first eight minutes.

Maddie Clark (2), Samantha Clark and Sidney Shemanski made good on all four of Freeport's 3-point attempts in the second quarter, during which Freeport outscored CWNC 20-15.

Samantha Clark, Shemanski and Tori Radvan — all freshmen — were in the Yellowjackets' starting lineup.

“(Junior forward) Jenna Manke is an inside presence for us and she was out sick tonight. That's why Tori started,” said Freeport coach Fred Soilis. “But we often have three freshmen on the floor at the same time.”

“Freeport settled down in the second, started hitting some outside shots,” said Rottmann.

Shemanski led the 'Jackets with 16 points and eight rebounds and Maddie Clark added 13 points.

The momentum gained by Freeport (5-5, 2-1) in the second period quickly disappeared in the third quarter as the Trojanettes forced 11 turnovers and won the period by a 16-4 margin, building their lead to 55-28.

Freshman guard Tess Myers scored 14 points for the Trojanettes (8-1, 3-0) and paced the team's effort in the second half with eight points. She has been in the starting lineup since the beginning of the season.

“She does a great job for us,” said Rottmann. “We have a lot of scorers on this team, so she doesn't have a ton of responsibility there, but she is certainly capable of scoring. She showed it tonight.

“Defensively, she usually guards the best player on the other team.”

Despite the loss, Soilis was encouraged by his team's play. Freeport's next three games are all section contests against Knoch, Deer Lakes and Burrell.

“We knew tonight was going to be tough,” he said. “They (Trojanettes) came out on fire and pressed us, but I'm proud of the girls. If we can keep this up, we'll be fine.”

FREEPORT 42Kim Mixon 2 0-0 4, Samantha Clark 2 0-0 5, Maddie Clark 4 2-2 13, Sidney Shemanski 6 2-2 16, Tori Radvan 1 2-2 4, Delanie Toy 0 0-0 0, Asti Brestensky 0 0-0 0, Sarah Copeland 0 0-0 0, Ashley Sullivan 0 0-0 0, Haley Graham 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 6-6 42.CW NORTH CATHOLIC 64Cassie Foster 1 0-0 3, Kylie Huffman 1 0-0 2, Tess Myers 6 2-2 14, Dani Short 3 0-0 6, Sam Breen 10 4-6 24, Lizzy Goetz 4 1-1 9, Amanda Bucklew 3 0-0 6, Ashley Robbins 0 0-0 0, Emma Pospisil 0 0-0 0, Branygan Bianchin 0 0-0 0, Lauren Gaertner 0 0-0 0, Lucy Waskiewicz 0 0-0 0, Belle O'Hara 0 0-0 0. Totals: 28 7-9 64.Freeport 4 20 4 14 — 42CWNC24 15 16 9 — 643-point goals: Freeport 6 (M. Clark 3, Shemanski 2, S. Clark); CWNC 1 (Foster).Thursday: Knoch at Freeport; CW North Catholic at Valley