BUFFALO TWP — North Catholic was unlikely to turn in a second straight lethargic performance following its first loss of the season.

Especially with a chance to establish themselves as the Section 1-AAAA frontrunner, the Trojanettes found some time away can do some good.

“I feel like we go into every game with the same mentality,” North Catholic junior guard Tess Myers said. “Just playing hard on our defense and our press trying to push it and get transition points.”

Following a six-day break, North Catholic surged to a 12-point lead in the first three minutes and used the momentum to snap Freeport's seven-game winning streak with a 75-63 win Thursday night at The Hive.

The Trojanettes (8-1, 4-0) were eager to rebound from their loss to Penn Hills. Beating the Yellowjackets allowed North Catholic to grab sole possession of first place in the section.

“I think we were a little lethargic over Christmas,” Trojanettes' coach Molly Rottmann said. “Your first game after the holiday, it's a section game and you are playing away. Absolutely, we talked about getting off to a quick start.”

Freeport (7-2, 3-1) had a hard time getting moving.

The Yellowjackets missed their first eight 3-pointers and shot 29 percent (9-of-31) from beyond the arc in the game.

While Freeport was finding its touch on offense, North Catholic had surged out to a 14-2 lead following two free throws from Kylee Lewandowski with a little less than five minutes left in the first quarter.

“Sure it was,” said Yellowjackets' coach Fred Soilis about if Freeport's start was tough. “They were getting adjusted to it. We did as well as we could.”

Lewandowski, who finished with 16 points and eight rebounds, put North Catholic ahead for good when she opened the game with a 3-pointer.

The Trojanettes would end up shooting 48.2 percent (27-of-56) from the field. Myers scored a game-high 26, while Cassie Foster also reached double figures with 11. Dani Short contributed eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds for North Catholic.

“Our energy, we were off for about a week. We had a lot of motivation going into this game playing against Freeport and everything,” said Myers on what led to the hot start. “So I think passing the ball and getting to the open girl.”

Freeport would cut into the lead once some of its outside shots began falling. In the third quarter, the Yellowjackets sliced the lead to 57-50 following a trey from Madeline Clark with 1:41 left in the third.

Clark scored a team-high 19 points for Freeport, joining Haley Graham (17) and Harley Holloway (12) in double figures.

North Catholic found another gear and made sure the rally was short lived.

A trey from Lewandowski keyed a 9-0 Trojanettes' run to end the third. Freeport would be unable to get the lead below double digits again.

“We prepared for everything we saw,” Soilis said. “I told my kids there wasn't anything we didn't see. There were times we just broke down and didn't get there. I was proud of the effort.”

NORTH CATHOLIC 75

Emma Pospisil 0 0-0 0, Cassie Foster 3 3-4 11, Kylee Lewandowski 6 2-2 16, Tess Myers 11 2-2 26, Dani Short 3 2-2 8, Belle O'Hara 2 1-2 5, Lucy Waskiewicz 3 0-0 7, Branygan Bianchin 1 0-0 2. Totals: 27 10-12 75.

FREEPORT 63

Harley Holloway 3 4-4 12, Sam Clark 2 0-1 6, Madeline Clark 7 3-5 19, Sidney Shemanski 2 5-5 9, Haley Graham 7 0-0 17, Grace Soilis 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21 12-16 63.

North Catholic 22 23 21 9 — 75

Freeport16 16 18 13 — 63

3-point goals: North Catholic 7 (Foster 2, Lewandowski 2, Myers 2, Waskiewicz); Freeport 9 (Graham 3, Holloway 2, M. Clark 2, S. Clark 2)

Saturday: Keystone Oaks at North Catholic; Apollo-Ridge at Freeport