As badly as the Free State High girls basketball team wants to pull off a shocker during postseason play, the Firebirds didn’t want to have to face the top-ranked team in the state — Overland Park Aquinas — Wednesday in the sub-state semifinals.

The Firebirds made sure that wouldn’t be a problem. Their 54-41 Senior Night victory against Olathe North bumped the Eagles to the eight-seed. Meanwhile, the seventh-seeded Firebirds will get ready for a rematch with second-seed Olathe East, which beat FSHS 70-46 earlier this year.

“We talked about three things tonight,” FSHS coach Bryan Duncan said. “We wanted to win for our seniors, we wanted to double our victory total from last year by going from four to eight wins in the regular season, and we also wanted to get the best possible seed we could for sub-state. We accomplished all of those goals.”

Although East won the regular-season game against Free State, 70-46, the Firebirds (8-12 overall, 4-7 Sunflower League) will enter Wednesday’s game with some extra spring in their step. They’ve won three of their last four games, and they’ve been playing their best basketball of the season during that stretch.

“Through hard work and discipline in practice, we’ve made a lot of progress this season,” said senior Kirby Beneventi, who had six points and eight rebounds against North. “It shows in our record thus far that we’re getting better. We’ve definitely come a long way.”

Jamie Stanclift led Free State with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Tricia Dunham had 10 points and five rebounds, and Jenny Gwaltney added nine points and five boards.