‘Practice’ over for Lawrence High, Free State girls

The Lawrence High bench mobs Jordyn Tolefree after her last-second game-winning shot. The Lions beat Olathe East, 63-61, at LHS.

As far as Nick Wood and Bryan Duncan are concerned, you might as well take a big ol’ eraser and scratch out everything that has happened over the past three months of the girls prep basketball season.

While both Lawrence High and Free State enter this week’s sub-state tournaments on a bit of a hot streak — the Firebirds have won seven of their last 10 games, the Lions three of their last five — both coaches pointed out Tuesday that any accomplishments that have occurred up until now are rendered officially meaningless as of today.

“Wednesday night is what we’ve been working toward all season,” said LHS’s Wood, whose fifth-seeded Lions will take on No. 4 Shawnee Mission North on the road at 7 p.m. today. “Ultimately, all of our season and preseason was one big practice. And now we got to go out and see what we can do with it.”

For those counting at home, that’s a lot of victories out the window — particularly in the case of third-seeded Free State, which will host sixth-seeded SM South at 7 tonight.

Led by seniors Chantay Caron (a Kansas State commit), Ashli Hill and Wren Wiebe — and bolstered by what has proven to be a dominating defense — the Firebirds have pieced together a 13-7 record and figure to be a primary contender for a spot in next week’s state tournament in Emporia.

Before they can start making travel arrangements to White Auditorium, however, they’ll have to overcome a potentially dangerous first-round foe.

In its first meeting with SM South this season, Free State struggled mightily to get things going offensively — only four of the team’s players scored — and needed a free throw with 3.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter to escape with a 29-28 home victory.

“It don’t think it’s any secret that getting to the state tournament is our goal,” Duncan said. “But our main goal is trying to find a way to somehow knock them off tomorrow night, because if that doesn’t happen, none of the other options are available.”

Added Hill, a 6-foot-5 center who’s coming off a 14-point, 11-rebound, seven-block game in a victory over LHS last Friday, “We’ve just got to come out and play good (for) all four quarters.”

For their part, the Lions (8-12) fared well against SM North earlier this season, winning 47-36 at home despite a 23-point outburst from Indians senior and KSU commit Brianna Kulas, who figures to be a substantial roadblock in Lawrence High’s quest to advance to Friday’s second round.

“Last game, she shot, like, 20 free throws,” said LHS senior Haley Parker. “So we want to limit her touches and limit her offensively, because she’s the biggest part of their team.”

Today’s tournament start also should represent a bittersweet development for the teams’ senior players, who, as they enter the single-elimination portion of their schedules, are faced with the unsettling reality that their days as prep basketball players could be numbered.

“I don’t think I’ll really process that until we lose a game,” Wren Wiebe said Tuesday.

“But hopefully,” she quickly added, “that (won’t) happen.”