Every star needs a sidekick, and Free State High senior forward Peyton Brown was more than happy to help out against Shawnee Mission North on Tuesday.

When Free State junior Madison Piper hit a few momentum-changing buckets in the fourth quarter, Brown followed with a few of her own, helping the Firebirds roll to a 48-38 victory at SM North.

Piper, the second-leading scorer in the Sunflower League, received her usual face-guarding treatment from SM North’s defense. Down by three points in the fourth quarter, Piper set a screen, created a few inches of space from her defender and knocked down a game-tying triple.

“We were down three, and I was, like, ‘OK, I need to step up a little bit,'” said Piper, who surpassed 1,000 points in her career during the win. “So I think that making those shots got the team going and got in the right direction.”

On the next possession, Brown followed with a baseline jumper, assisted from senior guard Hannah Walter. Then Piper hit another three. Then Brown scored on a layup-and-the-foul bucket, creating an 11-0 run in just more than two minutes for a 41-33 advantage.

“I think it’s just building up the confidence to take that open shot,” Brown said, “because I haven’t usually done that in the past. I’m just trying to help my team win.”

Brown, a 5-foot-9 forward, made six of her seven shots from the floor, drilling jumpers from the free-throw line and baseline. Two summers ago, she tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in a knee. She only played the second half of last season, but she said it took about a month to get comfortable playing again.

In the first half Tuesday, Brown and Piper combined for 18 of the team’s 24 points.

“I think most of it was just mental, just that fear of hurting yourself again,” said Brown, who had 14 points and five rebounds. “You just really have to push past it and trust your knee and trust all of your doctors when they say you’re good to go, which is what I did.”

The sixth-ranked Firebirds (11-4, 4-2 in Sunflower League) led by as many as nine points in the second quarter following a stretch in which they scored on seven of their eight possessions. Brown scored six points in the 13-5 run. Sophomore point guard Cameryn Thomas added a layup, and sophomore Erin Cushing hit a baseline jumper.

But Free State only scored six points in the third quarter — three-pointers from Piper and sophomore Jaelyn Two Hearts — and the Indians (6-9, 3-3) tied the score, 30-all.

With sub-state drawing closer, Free State coach Bryan Duncan was disappointed by a lack of execution on both ends of the floor.

“I thought defensively we were average at best,” Duncan said. “I don’t think we really communicated very well. Offensively, I thought our decision-making was very poor for most of the night. I just don’t think we played well together. When you combine those three things, we were fortunate to win.”

The Firebirds will travel to second-ranked Olathe South at 5:30 p.m. Friday.

FREE STATE (48)

Cameryn Thomas 1-1 2-4 4, Caiti Schlesener 0-6 2-2 2, Madison Piper 5-10 4-4 17, Hannah Walter 0-2 3-4 3, Peyton Brown 6-7 2-4 14, Jaycie Bishop 0-3 3-5 3, Jaelyn Two Hearts 1-3 0-0 3, Erin Cushing 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 14-33 16-23 48.

SHAWNEE MISSION NORTH (38)

Jazmin Williams 1-7 4-4 7, Jade Williams 1-1 2-2 4, Briana Farr 4-17 3-4 11, Katlyn Hughes 3-7 1-2 9, Ashley Ross 3-8 1-4 7, Corrie Naughton 0-0 0-0 0, Jolee Williams 0-2 0-0 0, Hannah Redick 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 12-43 11-16 38.

Free State 9 15 6 18 — 48

SM North 9 8 13 8 — 38

Three-point goals: Free State 4-13 (Piper 3, Two Hearts); SM North 3-15 (Hughes 2, Jazmin Williams). Turnovers: SM North 14, Free State 12.