Lawrence High junior guard Haley Parker, left, comes up with a steal after stripping the ball from Free State junior forward Chantay Caron (23) in Free State’s 47-42 victory last Friday. The Lions and Firebirds will clash for a third time on Thursday in the sub-state playoffs at FSHS.

One outcome — a loss for one team and a win for the other — put a positive charge into both teams leading up to Thursday’s first-round sub-state matchup between the Free State and Lawrence High girls basketball teams.

Sound odd? It isn’t. It’s just playoff basketball.

“Right after the game, and the next day, it was hard to swallow,” said LHS guard Haley Parker of the Lions’ 47-42 loss to Free State last Friday. “But losing that one makes it easier to win the next one because we’re more focused and hungrier.”

That’s no slight against the Firebirds. In fact, many players on the Free State side know exactly what Parker’s talking about.

“In some ways, I think the angry team has the upper hand,” said FSHS senior Ashleigh Allam, whose team will play host to LHS on Thursday. “I know we went into Friday’s game upset because they beat us the first time.”

For three quarters on Friday, the Lions were in position to sweep the regular-season series. But a ferocious fourth quarter from the Firebirds turned a nine-point LHS lead with 6:49 to play into a five-point Free State victory that evened the series at one game apiece and set up the tiebreaker.

As was the case in the previous meetings, Thursday’s matchup will feature the dominant post play of Free State against the quickness of the Lawrence High guards.

In the first meeting, LHS overcame sluggish shooting in the first half to scratch out a 39-37 victory. Senior Taylor Bird led the Lions with 16 points, while Jasmyn Turner and Parker added nine apiece.

In the rematch, Bird got going early and the Lions built a 13-point lead, but this time it was the Firebirds who chipped away and rallied for a come-from-behind victory. Free State outscored LHS, 23-9, in the fourth quarter to take the five-point victory.

While the victory gave the Firebirds a boost in confidence — and assured them of a winning record — the loss was not one the Lions were quick to put behind them.

“It actually still means a lot,” junior April Miller said. “I think we learned a lot from it. It’s whoever brings it now. This next one’s the big game.”

These two programs are no strangers to facing each other at do-or-die time. Twice in the past four seasons, Bryan Duncan’s Firebirds have knocked off Kristin Mallory’s Lions in the postseason. Once in a first-round sub-state game in 2006 and then again in the sub-state championship game the following season.

But both coaches say the past has little bearing on this year’s matchup.

“I think you have the same feel every time,” Mallory said. “No matter when Lawrence High and Free State play each other it has a postseason feel to it.”

Duncan agreed and said Thursday’s higher stakes force him and his team to step away from the usual elements that make the rivalry intense.

“We don’t look at this as a rivalry game,” Duncan said. “That was Friday. This is a game we have to go through to get to state.”

The winner of Thursday’s 7 p.m. game between the No. 4 Firebirds (11-9) and No. 5 Lions (9-11) will play Saturday in the title game at FSHS.