It was apparent early on that the scoreboard would not matter.

In a game where athleticism and experience won out over size and youth, No. 1 seed Olathe South jumped to a 14-point lead and ran away from the fifth-seeded Free State girls basketball team, 60-39, Friday at Lawrence High.

For South, the victory delivered a fourth straight trip to the Class 6A state tournament next week in Emporia.

For Free State, the loss provided an occasional glimpse into a bright future and, unfortunately, one final bout with adversity.

With 4:30 to play in the fourth quarter, and the Firebirds trailing, 51-32, Free State junior Rosie Hull fell to the floor after getting tangled up with Olathe South’s Abbey Marra. Like her twin sister, Maggie, a month earlier, Hull had suffered an injury to her left knee and had to be helped off the floor.

“I heard it pop at first, and, obviously, I thought it was my ACL,” Hull said.

The specifics and severity of Hull’s injury were not known after the game. But it was certain that the injury did nothing to decide the outcome of the game. Regardless, the final blow of the season certainly shook up the FSHS players, who saw three players go down with injuries this season and suffered bad break after bad break throughout the year.

“That was certainly a difficult moment, a scary moment,” FSHS coach Bryan Duncan said of seeing Hull go down. “But overall I was real proud of how our girls competed tonight.”

The Firebirds trailed 17-4 after the first quarter and 32-15 at halftime. In building the commanding lead, Olathe South (20-2) forced Free State (9-13) into 13 first-half turnovers and scored 11 layups off of those turnovers.

“They really took ahold of the game on the boards and with their defense,” said FSHS senior Chelsea Morgan, who played a career-high in minutes and scored five points in the loss.

The Firebirds never pulled closer than 17 points in the second half and saw the deficit balloon to as many as 28 points before the final horn sounded.

With the team losing just two seniors from this season’s roster, FSHS left Friday’s sub-state championship game encouraged about its future.

“We could’ve easily folded but we didn’t,” Duncan said. “We saw tonight what it takes to be a truly elite team. Olathe South is a fantastic team. And after we took that initial blow, I think we saw we can play with them.”

Sophomores Chantay Caron and Wren Wiebe led Free State with 14 and eight points, respectively. Fellow sophomore Ashli Hill led all rebounders with seven before fouling out early in the second half.