After Lawrence High outplayed his team during the first half, Free State High girls basketball coach Bryan Duncan approached his players at halftime, asking if any of them felt like panicking.

His confident girls smiled back at him.

“Being down by five points didn’t mean anything,” senior Lauren Kimball said. “We had been in that situation before.”

Displaying the composure of an experienced team, Free State, which starts four seniors, turned a five-point halftime deficit into a 57-48 road victory against Lawrence High on Friday night.

The Lions controlled the game early. But with 3:17 remaining in the third quarter, Free State junior Sarah Craft converted a layup and foul shot to tie the game at 33 and launch an 8-0 run. Following that scoring burst, LHS never led again.

“That was one of the big turnarounds,” said Kimball, who scored 15 points and went 9-of-10 from the free-throw line. “We really fed off that.”

LHS narrowed the gap again to 47-46 with 1:28 left, and Lions sophomore Taylor Bird, who scored 11 points and effectively broke the Free State press on several occasions, had an open route to the goal but missed the layup.

“I should have been smarter and made a move instead of going down and under,” she said. “I didn’t have a good angle.”

After missing the shot, Bird fouled Free State senior Kelsey Harrison. During the timeout before that play, Duncan informed his team it had reached the bonus. A mentally prepared Harrison then walked to the line with the “Jungle” crowd on its feet and calmly sank both shots.

“I knew right when they fouled me that I was going to go to the line,” Harrison said. “That’s just all I though about. I was focused.”

Perhaps the Firebirds (14-6) best displayed their veteran moxie at the free-throw line, finishing 21 of 26 – compared to 5 of 9 for LHS.

“Our players were very confident,” Duncan said. “You could see that when they stepped to the line.”

The clutch work at the charity stripe helped the Free State seniors – Kimball, Harrison, Jenna Brantley, Allie Hock and Jessica Scott – and fifth-year coach Duncan collect their first win in the Jungle, which created an atmosphere Duncan described as “rockin'”.

“This is a great high school basketball environment, and anytime you can win here, it’s huge,” Duncan said. “It’s something to be proud of.”

The Firebirds set another milestone by reaching 14 wins, tying the mark of their 2000-01 team for the best in school history.

During the first half, it looked as if LHS (13-7) would be the team notching its 14th win. The Lions led, 24-17, with 3:24 remaining in the second quarter and 28-23 at halftime by shooting accurately from the field and effectively navigating the Firebirds’ vaunted press. Although Free State – in an effort to preserve the team’s energy – did not step up its pressure until the latter portion of the second quarter, LHS rarely looked flustered, committing only eight turnovers during the game.

“They handled it well … They obviously were very well prepared for it,” Duncan said. “Over four quarters our pressure finally caught up to them a little bit.”

Like this season’s earlier game – a 59-36 win by Free State on Dec. 21 culminated by a 24-10 Free State run – the Firebirds relied on their second-half push.

But the Lions, who received a team-high 15 points from Danielle Bird and nine points from Free State transfer Hannah Somers, showed how much they have improved.

“It wasn’t even the same type of game,” LHS coach Kristin Mallory said. “They played better. We played better. It was a pretty clean game and fun to watch.”

Both teams, though, must move on quickly from Friday’s emotion-packed game. Each hosts its opening Class 6A sub-state game Thursday, with Free State meeting Leavenworth and LHS going against Shawnee Mission Northwest.

“Next week starts another season,” Duncan said.