Only time will tell if Free State High’s girls basketball team hit rock bottom the other night.

“I would like to think so,” coach Bryan Duncan said following Tuesday night’s deflating 30-25 home loss to Olathe Northwest.

The Firebirds failed to score a point in the last 91â2 minutes, blowing a late-third quarter nine-point lead. Now, in the wake of that swoon, Free State has to play high-flying Lawrence High tonight.

Tipoff will be at 6 p.m. in the Firebirds’ gym.

The Lions (15-4) are on a three-game sizz and have high hopes going into next week’s Class 6A sub-state. Meanwhile, the Firebirds (8-11) have dropped three in a row and literally are limping to the end of the season.

Since the new year started, Duncan has lost two starters to knee injuries. Junior guard Maggie Hull went down on Jan. 24 and senior guard Sarah Craft a little more than a week later. Craft was scheduled to undergo surgery today.

“Certainly, losing your starting backcourt is never a positive,” Duncan said.

Nevertheless, the Firebirds didn’t fold their tents after Hull and Craft went down. They took Shawnee Mission South into two overtimes before bowing, then knocked off Leavenworth and SM North to even their record at 8-8.

But then came the three-game skid, punctuated by Tuesday’s sinking spell against Olathe Northwest.

Can the Firebirds bounce back against the Lions?

“It’s going to be tough,” said soph Chantay Caron, the Firebirds’ leading scorer at 10.0 points a game. “But I think if we pull together we can get it. Keeping our composure will probably be the most important thing.”

In the late December clash between the crosstown rivals in the LHS gym, the Firebirds – with Craft and Hull still in the lineup – hung tough until early in the third quarter when the Lions, nursing a one-point lead, went on a 9-0 spurt and cruised to a 44-30 victory that ended Free State’s five-game win streak in the series.

Without Craft and Hull, the Firebirds are thin where the Lions are deep and, with that backcourt depth, Lawrence hounds foes all over the floor, time and again turning defense into offense.

The Bird sisters – senior Danielle and junior Taylor – look alike and boast similar statistics, too. Danielle leads the Lions in scoring with a 10.8 average with Taylor close behind at 10.0. The Birds also pace the Lions in assists with Taylor holding a slight 3.3 to 3.2 edge.

The Birds are solid defenders, too, yet soph Cassie Potter paces the Lions in steals with 2.7 per game. Up front, the Lions rely mostly on 6-foot-2 junior Tania Jackson, who averages 6.6 rebounds.

Free State can’t match the Lions’ depth and firepower in the backcourt, but the Firebirds have two solid front-liners in 6-5 Ashli Hill and 6-1 Taylor Manning.

Hill, a sophomore, averages nearly seven boards a game and is a proven shot-blocker. She had six swats in the loss to O-Northwest. However, both she and Manning fouled out in the fourth quarter of that contest.

Both teams will participate in sub-state games next Wednesday. Pairings will be announced Saturday morning.