Jenny Gwaltney’s grin couldn’t be helped — snapping a seven-game losing streak will do that.

After Free State High’s girls basketball team beat Kansas City Hogan Prep 55-40, the junior forward’s smile was understandable. Monday’s win was the Firebirds’ first since their Dec. 5 opener against Kansas City Wyandotte.

“Oh my gosh, unbelievable. It feels great,” said Gwaltney, who led FSHS with 16 points and 15 rebounds. “We’ve been working so hard in practice — I know everybody says that, but we really have — and it’s finally paid off.”

With the Firebird Winter Classic starting Thursday, the win came as a much-needed boost for FSHS (2-7).

“We needed a win, period,” Firebird coach Bryan Duncan said. “Just confidence-wise, going into practice, it makes everything go better.”

The Rams (8-6), a Class 3A school in Missouri, weren’t pushovers. They were Free State’s eighth straight opponent with a winning record, and led 17-4 just 30 seconds into the second quarter.

Until then, the Firebirds had made just two of 13 shots and were outrebounded 13-8. But FSHS stayed aggressive and hit seven of 11 shots in a 19-9 run, closing to 26-23 by halftime.

“That shows a lot about our girls,” Duncan said. “It would’ve been real easy to tuck it in. I think that shows the desire of our girls.”

The Firebirds dominated the second half despite making just 14 of 42 field-goal attempts. Free State controlled the boards, limited its turnovers and forced Hogan Prep into 12 giveaways. The Firebirds’ 45 rebounds were a season high, their 13 turnovers a season low and 55 points their most since the opener.

Free state high's jenny gwaltney (15) battles Hogan Prep's Jamie Samuels for a rebound. The Firebirds won 55-40 on Monday at Free State to break a seven-game losing streak.

It was win — despite a miserable shooting night — thanks to defense and rebounding. But that didn’t surprise Duncan.

“Yeah, a little, but we’ve played that kind of defense and rebounded all year,” he said. “And we shot tonight about what we’ve shot all year. Maybe it just means we can’t beat the really good teams until we start scoring.”

Adding to Gwaltney’s double-double were sophomore Jamie Stanclift, who had 13 points and six boards, and junior Kirby Beneventi, who added 10 points and five steals.

Now the Firebirds turn their attention to Thursday’s tournament opener against KC-Sumner (4-4), and Free State’s new priority is starting a win streak.

That is, after they enjoy this victory.

“We keep telling them you have to keep working hard, but at some point, it’s got to pay off,” Duncan said. “Unless you’ve been to our practices, you really don’t know how hard these girls work and how much they deserve this.”