After not being able to buy a basket during the early going, visiting Shawnee Mission South finally made a game of it with Free State High in Sunflower League girls basketball Tuesday night.

Led by the play of Scout Wiebe and Madison Piper, Free State answered with some critical baskets in the fourth quarter to register a 52-42 win.

Trailing 10-0 after missing all 14 of its field-goal attempts in the first period, South finally started knocking down some shots and got within 27-17 at halftime and even closer, 36-29, after three quarters.

Wiebe and Piper led the way for the Firebirds, scoring 16 points apiece. Hannah Shoemaker scored eight points, and Adriana Jadlow finished with six for Free State, which improved to 8-9, 4-4.

“I think that’s the key,” Free State head coach Bryan Duncan said of his team. “I think Madison and Scout really know where to find each other, and they both have such good all-around skill sets. They’re able to score a lot of different ways.”

Allison Hines totaled a game-high 18 points, and Sierra Roberts scored 15 to lead the Raiders (8-9).

As the Raiders sputtered early, Piper and Wiebe stepped to the forefront in both scoring and distributing. Free State built its lead to 20-2 at the 4:55 mark in the second quarter and 22-5 at the 3:37 mark.

SM SOUTH (42)

Megan Stollsteimer 1 0-1 2, Sierra Roberts 5 3-7 15, Elizabeth Holmes 0 0-0 0, Sam Kilzer 10-0 2, Cossairt 0 0-0 0, Hines 7 1-2 18, McAvoy 0 0-2 0, Fischer 1 0-2 2, Sitas 0 0-0 0, Norton 1 0-0 3. Totals 16 4-14 42.

FREE STATE (52)

Lauren Johnson 0 0-1 0, Adriana Jadlow 2 2-8 6, Hannah Walter 0-0 0-0 0, Scout Wiebe 5 3-4 16, Madison Piper 4 7-7 16, Millie Shade 2 0-0 4, Mahren Kahler 1 0-0 2, Hannah Shoemaker 3 2-2 8. Totals 17 14-22 52.

SM South 0 17 12 13 — 42

FSHS 10 17 9 16 — 52

Three-point goals: Free State 4-10 (Wiebe 3, Piper 1); SM South 6-29 (Hines 3, Roberts 2, Norton ,). Fouled out: None. Fouled out — None. Turnovers: Free State 11, SM South 8.