Thursday, October 1, 2026
Earning a first-round bye in the Nassau Class AA girls’ basketball playoffs allowed fourth-seeded Freeport a little downtime and a chance to scout its quarterfinal opponent.
The Lady Red Devils went two full weeks between games, but they took the drama out of Tuesday’s matchup with No. 5 Hicksville early with what head coach Meredith Jones said was their best quarter of the season. Freeport built a 16-point lead and rolled to a 55-37 victory behind a career-high 18 points from junior guard Tiona Parker.
Parker, the team’s biggest sparkplug off the bench, entered the playoffs averaging 4.6 points per game. She had seven points in the second quarter and added six in the fourth as Freeport (13-7) advanced to face four-time defending county champion Baldwin in the semifinals this Friday at SUNY Old Westbury at 5 p.m. Junior Deavion Peterson had 11 points and sophomore Tyler Hawkins added eight. Hicksville’s Ijah Fletcher led all scorers with 25.
“Tiona’s been a little bit more aggressive offensively lately and shots were falling for her today,” Jones said. “We had a little discussion about her role not too long ago. She’s so valuable off the bench. She brings a lot of energy.”
Parker had one basket in the opening quarter and junior guard Leslie Cruz had five points off the bench as Freeport exploded to a 20-4 lead. Six Lady Red Devils scored within the first 6:30, including treys by Peterson and junior Bianca Benjamin.
“We had some great practices leading up to this game, but you never know how a team is going to react with so much on the line,” Jones said. “We came out really strong, shared the ball and took quality shots. We got away from that a bit in the second quarter, but then we got back to doing what we do best in the second half.”
Freeport’s largest lead was 19, on several occasions. It led 27-8 midway through the second before Fletcher scored seven straight points to give Hicksville some life. Defending Fletcher, one of the top inside threats in the county, fell largely on sophomore Taylor Abraham, Jones said.
“It was definitely a challenge for Taylor and I thought she did a great job,” Jones explained. “Even though she didn’t score like she’s used to scoring, she played a strong game.
“Fletcher is the type of player who’s going to get her points,” she added. “We’ve faced great post players before and we doubled down, which we don’t usually do. You hope to contain her as much as you can and shut down everyone else.”
Julia Bentrewicz was Hicksville’s second-leading scorer with four points. Her second basket beat the buzzer to end the third and cut Freeport’s lead to 40-28. However, Hawkins had two baskets and Parker a trey early in the fourth to boost the margin back to 19.
Senior Ceniya Nicholas added five points for the Lady Red Devils, who upped their winning streak to five straight.
