Lauren Wright was on fire. Wright's teammates were forcing turnover after turnover. Free State's home crowd was hollering, fueling the fourth-quarter comeback.
Too little, too late, though.
Free State's girls couldn't overcome a 16-point second-half deficit and dropped a 47-40 Sunflower League basketball decision to Olathe North on Friday night.
Basketball, Free State coach Craig Hershiser emphasized afterward, is not an eight-minute game.
"We played pretty much like we were in a fog the first 16 minutes," Hershiser said. "We can't play that way. It wasn't until the second half that we found that urgency."
Still, the fourth quarter was impressive. With Wright, who made four three-pointers on the night, scoring 10 of her game-high 22 points, the Firebirds put a legitimate scare into the Eagles.
Just 13 seconds into the fourth quarter, Olathe North led 37-22. Then the Firebirds made their next five shots to cut the gap to eight before the Eagles rallied to expand the margin to 10.
However, a Wright three-pointer at :52 brought the Firebirds to within five (45-40) and, moments later, Free State forced O-North's 20th turnover.
At that stage, Free State had two cracks at cutting the deficit to three, but Julie Seidel's breakaway layup was blocked by Tamara Whitaker, Wright missed a follow shot and North's Camilah Campbell scored on a easy lay-in with :07 showing for the game's final points.
Whitaker, a 5-foot-6 junior, led the Eagles with 17 points.
"I'll give her a lot of credit," Hershiser said. "On the other side of the coin, our defensive rotation wasn't what it was supposed to be."
O-North's double post players 6-foot Michelle Watson and 6-1 Kara DeNoon combined for 24 points. Free State doesn't have a 6-footer.
"Their big kids shot the ball pretty well," Hershiser said, "but we've defended big kids before. We just didn't have the commitment we needed on defense. We may be undersized, but we can guard that. The kids have shown me that."
Wright, a 5-10 senior who transferred from Topeka Hayden, showed Hershiser plenty on offense.
"She's a gamer," the Free State coach said. "She hit some big shots to get us back in it."
No other Firebird scored more than a half-dozen points.
Olathe North made 20 of 33 shots for 60.6 percent while the Firebirds connected on 15 of 40 for 37.6 percent. Free State had 13 turnovers.
Free State, 3-3, will entertain Olathe South on Monday.
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