For the first time in almost two months, Free State High’s girls basketball team led a game from start to finish.

And even though the Firebirds’ 39-28 win Thursday against Kansas City Sumner in the Firebird Winter Classic at Free State wasn’t a perfect game, it was the next best thing.

“It feels good to open with a win,” FSHS sophomore Jamie Stanclift said. “You don’t want to go into your own tournament and lose.”

After all, the Firebirds weren’t a lock to win their opener. The Firebirds (3-7) earned just their second win of the season on Monday, and hadn’t held a team to less than 40 points since Jan. 10.

That was ancient history Thursday, t. No. 5-seeded FSHS jumped on the fourth-seeded Sabres early, just like in the Firebirds’ 72-19 victory against KC Wyandotte on Dec. 5.

“People are starting to understand what their roles are on the team,” FSHS coach Bryan Duncan said. “I think we’re starting to be a little more patient, getting in the right spots and playing together.”

That meant being able to break the Sabres’ full-court press and spotting the open offensive player — which FSHS did repeatedly.

Stanclift was usually the beneficiary, scoring nine of her game-high 16 points in the first quarter. That helped FSHS take a 12-7 first-quarter lead, notching four assists in the process.

“As a team, we just clicked tonight,” Stanclift said. “We had the team chemistry going.”

Free State High guard Kirby Beneventi ducks under leaping Kansas City Sumner forward Janae Gracia. The Firebirds prevailed Thursday, 39-28.

The Sabres (4-5) made a run during the second quarter, thanks to good perimeter shooting and Free State turnovers. But the Firebirds settled down and focused on preventing Sumner’s inside shots — especially Sabres junior Kristen Donnell, who averages nearly 20 points per game.

The strategy worked, as Donnell didn’t score until the fourth quarter and finished with four points on 1-of-11 shooting.

“We wanted to come in and force them to hit jumpers,” Duncan said. “We followed our defensive gameplan as well as we could.”

The offensive gameplan wasn’t bad either, considering the Firebirds hit just 16 of 51 shots. But Sumner never pulled closer than seven points.

Now comes the tough part.

Free State High guard Lauren Abney, right, gets tangled with Sumner forward JoVaun Daniels as they battle for a rebound. The Firebirds will play Hutchinson at 5:30 p.m. today at Free State.

Free State plays top-seeded Hutchinson — Class 6A’s top ranked team — at 5:30 p.m. today in the semifinals. The Salt Hawks demolished KC Wyandotte 112-20 on Thursday.

Is playing Hutchinson (10-0) a frightening task?

“I honestly don’t think so,” Duncan said. “Why not play them? We think it’ll be a good measuring stick to see where we’re at.”