By Kyle LoJacono
Third-year Freedom girls basketball coach Laurie Pacholke had a lot of questions entering this season.
The Patriots are coming off a district championship and a 20-6 record, but lost their top-two scorers in center Lindsay Taggart and point guard Kaitlynn Pacholke, Laurie’s daughter.
Replacing the combined 29.4 points, 13.7 rebounds, 9.9 assists and 6.9 steals from the duo appeared impossible, but Freedom has started the season 9-5.
“Whether we have a lot of talent or not we’re always going to work hard,” Laurie said. “I knew we’d need to focus on discipline and work to be successful this year. You obviously can’t replace what we lost, but at the same time I thought if we just outwork teams we’ll be OK.
“We still brought back three starters,” Laurie continued. “To only lose two seniors, as big as they were, we’re pretty fortunate. A lot of people have to replace everything. They know I expect them to go hard, so at least we didn’t have to fight that battle.”
Moving into those vacant starting positions are two freshmen, guard Taylor Emery and center Bianca Igwe.
Emery has transitioned easily to the high school game, leading the squad with 23.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.3 steals per contest. The 5-foot-9 combo guard was not expecting to contribute so much so soon.
“I was thinking bottom of the food chain,” Emery said with a laugh. “I came in thinking I was going to be the worst player on the team. … It’s a lot of pressure because we get compared to last year’s team. We’re a new team, but we’re still Freedom basketball.”
Laurie said Emery is a rare talent.
“In all my years coaching and in the Nike circuit I’ve never had a kid as special as Taylor,” Laurie said. “Not only is she putting up 24 points a game, but if you look at her shooting percentage she’s shooting 67 percent from the field, and a lot of her points are just effort points. Rebounds and defensively she’s like a defensive back on the court.”
Igwe, who is pulling down 3.1 rebounds and adding 1.1 steals, has the added pressure of being the Patriots only true post player.
“I had high expectations for the team because the bar is set high,” Igwe said. “We lost a lot and people still expect us to win, which is pressure but also a good thing. A lot of nervousness, but it’s been easier now that we’ve had some games.”
Emery and Igwe are two of four freshmen on the squad, along with two sophomores, four juniors and only three seniors. Youth gives Freedom the chance to win now and in the future.
“It’s going to be exciting down the line,” Laurie said. “The mentality of the freshmen is something I’ve never had. They’re so focused. I’m so fortunate to have this freshmen class.”
The Patriots are also fortunate enough to have some senior leadership from guard Shadé Williams. She started at Land O’ Lakes High as a freshman with Laurie before coming to Freedom in 2009, giving the two a tight bond.
“She knows what to expect from me,” Laurie said. “I can get onto her and she knows it’s not personal. We don’t have to say anything most of the time because we just have that connection.”
Williams, who is averaging 10.1 points, 3.6 steals, 3.1 rebounds, said being a leader has been an odd transition for her because she looked up to Kaitlynn.
“She was my mentor since eighth grade,” Williams said. “To try and fill her shoes, no one really can. For a little person, I think like only 5-foot-3, she definitely has some really big shoes. She and Lindsay both left a legacy here at Freedom.”
Williams is currently leading the Patriots with 2.3 assists per contest, but no player has taken over as the lead guard yet making the squad unpredictable.
“Point guard is kind of by committee, and I think that’s what makes us so dangerous,” Laurie said. “We’re more balanced and most teams aren’t going to have five strong defenders. Whoever has the weakest defender on them is going to run point.”
Laurie has been able to use a versatile attack by getting her players to understand playing together is more important than individual stats.
“No kid is bigger than the team,” Laurie said. “We can bring in kids from all different areas, which we do have here. We’ve got kids from the university area, kids from Lutz and kids from New Tampa. We’re blending a lot of different backgrounds, but they come out here and all have basketball in common. The more we can play together and add talent, it makes us pretty dangerous.”
Williams added, “At the end of the day we all just want Freedom to have more points than the other team. As long as there’s that we’re all happy.”
Freedom plays at Class 7A-District 9 rival Chamberlain on Tuesday, Jan. 3 before taking on cross-town rival Wharton the next night. Both games start at 8 p.m.
–All stats as recorded to Maxpreps.com by coaches.
