The Freeman sisters

Kayla Freeman

Courtney Freeman

Madison County’s Freeman sisters are making an impact in college basketball. Younger sister Kayla is in her second season at UT Chattanooga while Courtney is in her final season at Appalachian State in North Carolina.
As a freshman, Kayla played in 15 games including a season high 12 minutes versus Baylor. She recorded 19 rebounds and averaged 1.3 points a game. Kayla was also named to the Southern Conference Academic Honor Roll and UTC’s Dean’s List and Athletics Director’s Honor Roll both semesters.
This season Kayla has played in 9 games totaling 67 minutes. She is 10 of 19 on free throw attempts and has 9 offensive rebounds and 5 on defense and has scored a total of 14 points as of February 2.
While at Madison County, Kayla was a four-time All-Area First Team player and scored a total of 1,566 career points. She had 1,274 career rebounds averaging 11.2 a game in her senior season.
Older sister Courtney is a four-year letter winner and Athens Banner Herald Player of the Year her senior season at Madison County. She broke her 1,000 career point mark as a sophomore with the Lady Raiders and finished her high school career with a total of 2,414 points. She completed her career at Madison County with 1,043 rebounds.
Courtney’s career at Appalachian state has been outstanding. As a freshman she played in all 35 games including 16 starts in the 2009-10 season. Courtney ranked 14th in the SoCon in offensive rebounds averaging 1.9 per game. She scored her game high of 20 points her freshman year against Elon.
As a junior, Courtney was only one of two players to start in every game for Appalachian State. She finished second on the team and 10th in the Southern Conference in scoring (11.4 points per game) and earned second-team all SoCon honors. Her junior season game high of 23 points came against UNCG on January 9, 2012.
Her sophomore year consisted of 32 games played including 14 starts. Courtney ranked 15th in the conference in field goal percentage (.415) and led the team in scoring twice. She scored 10 or more points in 11 games during the season including a season high of 20 against Elon on November 29, 2010.
Courtney is now in her senior season with App State where she has started in all 18 games. She has connected on 93 of her 188 shoots. At the free throw line, Courtney is 60 of 77. She has a total of 38 offensive rebounds and 67 rebounds on the defensive side of the ball. As of February 2, she has scored a total of 247 points with her game high of 26 points coming against Gardner Webb.
Courtney has been named to the SoCon Academic Honor Roll in each of her first three years at App State.
The two former Lady Raiders are the daughters of Sonja and Stanley Freeman. Stanley is a former college basketball player logging time on the court at both Emmanuel College and North Georgia College and State University.

Former Lady Raider begins career at UGA

Former Lady Raider softball player Sam LaZear will be starting her college softball career on Friday, February 8, when the Georgia Bulldogs open their 2013 campaign in Athens. LaZear, a 2010-11 National Fast pitch Coaches Association High School All-American Scholar Athlete, earned varsity letters 10 varsity letters while at Madison County. She has lettered in softball-4 years, 4 in tennis and 2 in basketball. She was also a Wendy’s High School Heisman award winner, National Merit Scholar and was ranked at the top of her class academically.

As for Georgia Coach Lu Harris-Champer, Sam’s addition the Lady Dawgs’ squad is a very welcomed one. “Sam is the fastest player we have brought in since Nicole Barber,” said coach LuHarris-Champer. “We are thrilled to have her speed, defense and toughness joining our program this season. Sam has incredible hand-eye coordination and rarely fails to make contact at the plate. She has the ability to bunt, slap and hit for power along with being a great student-athlete. We believe Sam is the best slapper in the 2012 class not only in Georgia, but in the country, and we look forward to seeing her develop in our program.”

Sam is one of 7 highly recruited players by the Georgia softball program. “We believe this class is the top recruiting class in the country,” said Lu Harris-Champer.

While at Madison County, Sam was a two-time All-State and three-time All-Region selection and helped Coach Doug Kesler’s squad win its region championship in 2009 and 2010. She was also part of a Lady Raider team that advanced to the Elite Eight of the AAAA division in the state tournament in 2009 and 2010.

As a senior, LaZear batted .407 with 46 runs, 18 runs batted in and 30 stolen bases. She also was part of the Southern Force travel softball team that finished in the Final Four at the ASA 16U National Championships in 2010. "Playing at Georgia has been an incredible experience. I have been blessed with an amazing opportunity and have learned so much in the short time I've been here," said LaZear. "It has been so nice to be on a team where all the players and coaches support you and want you to succeed. We just play ball-simple as that."