Free State boys 50, LHS boys 45 – Final

Free State High held on to its fourth-quarter lead and knocked off the Lions, 50-45.

Free State got contributions from nearly everyone who played and took advantage of LHS’s struggles from behind the three-point line.

Free State improves to 3-2. LHS falls to 0-6.

Free State boys 35, LHS boys 33 – End of 3rd Quarter

After scoring just 17 points in the first half, the Firebirds exploded for 18 in the third quarter to take a two-point lead into the final frame.

The Firebirds capitalized on six LHS turnovers in the quarter to jump ahead.

LHS boys 23, Free State boys 17 – Halftime

Behind nine points and five rebounds from Anthony Buffalomeat, the LHS boys basketball team leads Free State by six at the break.

The Lions jumped out to a 17-8 lead after one quarter but saw the Firebirds trim that to six by halftime.

Marcus Ray has five points and Logan Henrichs added three for the Lions.

Free State is led by four points from Evan Manning and Eric Watson and two each from Josh May, Sebastian Bonner and Aundre Allen.

LHS boys 17, Free State boys 8 – End of 1st Quarter

Lawrence High exploded midway through the first quarter to take a nine-point lead into the second quarter.

Anthony Buffalomeat, Logan Henrichs and Marcus Ray fueled an 8-0 LHS run that put the Lions up 15-6.

Buffalomeat leads all scorers with seven points.

Free State girls 37, LHS girls 34 – Final

In what had to be one of the more exciting LHS-FS girls games in the history of the series, the Free State girls knocked off LHS, 37-34, Saturday at Free State.

After combining to score just four points in the third quarter, the two teams traded points and pressure throughout the fourth quarter before FSHS pulled ahead for good on a bucket from senior Chantay Caron with 15.5 seconds to play.

After the Lions’ missed a chance to tie, Kylee Loneker iced the game with two free throws with 5 seconds to play. The two free throws were Loneker’s only points of the night.

Chantay Caron led FSHS with 13 points. Ashli Hill added nine and Lynn Robinson scored six.

LHS was led by Haley Parker and Jordyn Tolefree, who each tallied 10 points. Rachel Kelly added six and Shelby Miller chipped in four.

LHS falls to 1-5 on the year, while Free State improves to 4-1.

For more on the game, see Sunday’s Journal-World.

Free State girls 25, LHS girls 21 – End of 3rd Quarter

Four total points were scored in the third quarter, as LHS nailed a late three-pointer to cut the gap to one entering the fourth quarter.

Rachel Kelly hit the Lions’ only bucket of the quarter and Chantay Caron scored FS’s only point from the free throw line.

Free State girls 24, LHS girls 21 – Halftime

Free State High outscored LHS 18-9 in the second quarter to take a three-point lead into the locker room at halftime.

Chantay Caron leads FSHS with 10 points, while Ashli Hill added six. The Firebirds went to the free throw line 17 times in the first two quarters.

LHS, meanwhile, was led by seven points from Haley Parker and seven more from Jordyn Tolefree.

LHS senior Jasmyn Turner played limited minutes in the first half because of foul trouble. Turner picked up two quick ones and added her third foul midway through the second quarter. She did not record a stat in the first half.

LHS will get the ball out of the locker room.

LHS girls 12, Free State 6 – End of 1st Quarter

Despite giving away five turnovers, the Lawrence High girls closed the first quarter on an 8-0 run to take a 12-6 lead into the second quarter.

Haley Parker scored 5 for the Lions while Ashli Hill leads Free State with 4 points.

Original Post

The junior varsity girls game has just finished up (Lawrence High won 40-38 in overtime) and the Free State High gym is starting to buzz in anticipation of tonight’s city clash between the Lawrence High and Free State High varsity basketball teams.

The varsity girls will kick things off at 6 p.m., with the first of this season’s two scheduled meetings. Last season, these two teams met three times, with the Lions winning the series, 2-1, including a victory in the all-important sub-state matchup.

Unlike the boys’ contest, this year’s girls game features a ton of players who have been here before.

In seniors Ashli Hill, Chantay Caron and Wren Wiebe, the Firebirds have three starters who will be making their third straight start in this showdown.

The LHS girls counter with a similarly experienced lineup, as seniors Cassie Potter, Jasmyn Turner, Haley Parker and Jordyn Tolefree all have played their share of games in this series, as well.

While the experience factor might be even, the two squads enter tonight’s game after very different showings on Friday.

Free State (3-1) pounded Leavenworth on the road Friday, while the Lions (1-4) fell at Shawnee Mission Northwest.

As per usual in this rivalry, tonight’s crowd figures to be one of the largest that either team will play in front of all season. Alumni for both schools have returned home for winter break and the gym should be nearing capacity before halftime of the girls game — if not sooner.

The LHS and FSH boys will tip off their battle 20 minutes after the conclusion of the girls game. The opening tip is expected to be tossed up around 7:30 p.m.

The boys game figures to be a stark contrast to what we expect from the girls game. While girls coaches Bryan Duncan and Nick Wood will run tons of experience onto the floor, LHS’s Mike Lewis (who will join Wood in coaching in his first city showdown) and Free State’s Chuck Law will be playing several players with little or no experience in the rivalry.

For Free State, Nick Hassig, Evan Manning, Eric Watson, Alec Heline and Ryan Scott all have played a varying number of minutes in this clash. But for the Lions, only seniors Marcus Ray and Drake DeBiasse have real varsity experience in this game.

Both teams also will usher a number of sophomores — Brett Frantz for Free State and Anthony Buffalomeat, K.J. Pritchard and Logan Henrichs for the Lions — onto the floor for the first time in the series. Free State senior Josh May, who transfered in this fall, also will be playing the first LHS-FSHS game of his career.

The opening tip for the final game before winter break for all four teams is now less than 30 minutes away.

Stay tuned in to LJWorld.com throughout the night for updates from both games.