South Walton goes back to basics in win at Freeport

FREEPORT – Finishing 0-2 in the Indian Shootout didn’t sit well with Kevin Craig.

So the hall-of-fame coach, who just last year was inducted into the Florida Association of Basketball Coaches’ Hall of Fame, decided to do what he’s done countless times in his 30-plus years of coaching: Go back to the drawing board.

“We didn’t play too well in the Christmas tournament so we had some very intense practices this week,” he said. “I went kind of retro in the way I coach because I think I’ve done a poor job the first half of the season in detail.”

“So we got back to basics and back to high-intensity practices.”

He later clarified that by retro he meant employing a little tough love. And judging by the team’s 61-18 victory at Freeport Friday night, a fire was lit underneath his troops.

Casey Perot delivered a double-double with a game-high 27 points and 11 rebounds, Eve Heffron poured in 11 points and Taylor Menard added 10 for the Seahawks, who improved to 11-5.

“I was very pleased the effort. All seven of them played well,” said Craig, whose squad played with a short bench.

Mckenzie Perot added nine points, Morgan Kennedy dished out eight assists and Menard added five dimes for the Seahawks, who delivered a lights-out shooting effort. That included a 50 percent clip (24 of 48) from an offense that thrived on working the ball through its bigs, Casey Perot and Katie Trejo.

The effort carried over to the defensive end for the Seahawks, who forced 17 turnovers and held the Bulldogs to 18 percent shooting and a scoreless final frame. No Bulldog scored in double figures as Mary Kate Myrick led Freeport with eight points.

“I was proud of how hard we played on defense,” Craig said. “We tried some new stuff tonight getting ready for down the road and it was a good effort all around.”

Early on, South Walton made its living on defense.

Despite shooting just 5 of 15 from the field, the Seahawks built a 13-7 lead on the strength of forcing five turnovers and holding the Bulldogs to 3 of 14 shooting.

Then South Walton’s offense found its form.

Outscoring the Bulldogs 16-3 in the frame, five different Seahawks combined to shoot 6 0f 11 from the floor to push the lead to 29-10 at halftime.

Then in the second half, Casey Perot poured in 13 of her 17 points, the Seahawks shot 19 of 33 from the field and the Bulldogs were held scoreless over the final nine minutes.