GIRLS STATE BASKETBALL: Fremont's Defense Cools Off Southwest To Win Class A Title

Fremont’s Taylor McCabe dribbles the basketball, as Lincoln Southwest’s Aniya Seymore (2) and Kennadi Williams defend her during the Class A Girls State Basketball Championship Friday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena. LSW’s McKenna Rathbun (24) and Fremont’s Macy Bryant (background) are moving down court. (Jeff Motz/KFOR Sports)

LINCOLN–(KFOR Mar. 11)–The old cliche stood true Friday night for the Fremont girls basketball team…..”Defense helps win championships.”

The Tigers relied on back-court pressure and used to a fourth-quarter run to earn a 37-32 victory over Lincoln Southwest to win the 2022 NSAA Girls Class A State Basketball Championship at Pinnacle Bank Arena, in a game heard on KFOR.

Fremont (27-2) became the first non-Omaha or Lincoln team to win the girls Class A basketball title in 40 years, since Kearney beat Lincoln Northeast 43-42 in 1982.

The Tigers trailed 26-24 after the third quarter and 30-24 early in the fourth quarter, when they pulled off a 13-2 run to finish the game and defeat Southwest.

Taylor McCabe, an Iowa commit, scored 16 points and fellow senior Macy Bryant scored 10 to help Fremont during the fourth quarter rally. Bryant scored nine of her points in the final period.

The pressure from the Tigers also limited Southwest’s offensive threats in Kennadi Williams and Freddie Wallace below their double-digit scoring averages. Williams, a sophomore, scored only six points and Wallace finished with nine points before fouling out in the fourth quarter in her final game for the Silver Hawks, who ended the year 21-6.

Fremont shot 4-of-17 from three-point range for 23%, while Southwest missed all nine attempts from behind the arc. The Tigers shot 82% from the free-throw line, making 9-of-11 attempts. The Silver Hawks made 2-of-4 shots for 50% from the line.