Freeman senior Erin Uecker defends Centerville's Thea Gust in what was an entertaining Region 4B battle between the No. 3 Flyers and No. 2 Tornadoes in Irene Saturday night. The two teams went back and forth in the first half to give fans a thrilling brand of basketball, and Uecker and the Flyers held a 34-30 lead early in the third quarter. But a shooting exhibition from multiple girls from Centerville followed, and the Tornadoes began pulling away.

The Freeman Public boys played their final regular season game at home against Gayville-Volin Friday night, but before tipoff, the team's only senior, Ethan Balvin, was recognized and presented with gifts by juniors Evan Scharberg, left, and Rocky Ammann. The Flyers went on to win 58-42 and will take part in the Region 4B Tournament next week. Freeman will face Freeman Academy/Marion Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Sterling Hall.

City workers clear a windrow of snow from Main Street Friday morning following the latest round of winter weather. And it's cold, with the air temperature below zero and a high today expected to be in the single digits. 

As expected, another winter storm dumped more snow across the already snow-soaked region on Wednesday and early Thursday morning, bringing with it high winds and very cold temperatures. The Freeman community was on the southern side of the system and received a lesser amount of snow than others — one measurement showed just under 8 inches in town — but the blowing snow made conditions very poor.

A solid defensive effort, like this shown by Rylee Peters (20) and Erin Uecker helped lead the Freeman Public girls to a 62-36 win over Alcester-Hudson in the Region 4B Tournament Tuesday night in Centerville. Here's the full report.

Marion/Freeman head wrestling coach Chris Sayler offers a few remarks during a Tuesday morning sendoff for the state-bound wrestlers, who left for Rapid City at 9 a.m. to get ahead of the incoming winter weather. Also pictured is assistant coach Jeff Wollman and those grapplers heading to state: From left - Brody Gossen at 106, Easton Tschetter at 113, Finley McConniel at 120 and Riley Tschetter, who is going as an alternate at 160 lbs. The competition begins Thursday morning at 10 a.m. MST.

This is the bracket for the Region 4B Girls Basketball Tournament set to begin tonight, with No. 8 Freeman Academy/Marion hosting No. 9 Gayville-Volin in Marion starting at 6 p.m. The Bearcats lost to the Raiders 44-38 during the regular season. Region 4B action is scheduled to continue Tuesday night at two locations — Centerville and Viborg-Hurley — and it appears the games will be able to be played ahead of the incoming storm (although the start time has been moved up). Freeman Public will face Alcester-Hudson at 4 p.m. in Centerville, followed by Menno and Centerville.

These three grapplers will represent the Marion/Freeman Rebels at the State Wrestling Tournament in Rapid City next week. From left: Brody Gossen, an eighth grader at Freeman, will compete at 106 lbs.; Easton Tschetter, a seventh grader at Freeman, will wrestle at 113 lbs.; and Finley McConniel, a sophomore at Marion, will compete at 120 lbs. All qualified at by placing third at the Region 2B Tournament at McCook Central High School on Saturday. Riley Tschetter, a freshman from Freeman, finished fifth and is a state alternate at 160 lbs.

Estelle Waltner, a freshman at Freeman Academy, removes cheese pockets from their boiling bath of water as she and others prepare the popular ethnic food for Schmeckfest Saturday morning, Feb. 18 in the Pioneer Hall kitchen and dining hall. Volunteers were at it Friday evening, too, preparing the ingredients for assembly. Two hundred dozen will be made today, and another 200 dozen will be made next Friday and Saturday. All will be sold at Schmeckfest on March 24 and 25. 

For more than 80 years, this building served students attending Freeman Public School — first students at all grade levels and then, following the opening of the current junior-senior high school in 1975, students in grades K-6. The two-story brick structure opened in 1926 — two years following a fire that destroyed the previous school building located on what is today Lions Park. The building no longer exists; it was razed in 2009.