Free State forward Cameryn Thomas (10) dribbles around Shawnee Mission South defenders Tuesday night at FSHS.

Some victories aren’t as enjoyable as others. Just ask Free State High’s girls basketball team, which only attempted two fourth-quarter field goals but defeated Shawnee Mission South, 58-45, Tuesday night.

The teams combined for 55 fouls and 76 free-throw attempts. The Firebirds went 18-for-24 at the foul line in the fourth quarter to win, but junior Madison Piper said the game lacked any sort of flow the majority of the second half.

“It was stop and go, stop and go. So it was hard to get that momentum,” Piper said after scoring 14 points and hitting all three of her free throws.

“I’m proud of the girls for sticking it out for the three-hour-long second half,” Piper joked. “It was really hard to keep a constant pace.”

The Raiders deserve credit for making FSHS (12-5), ranked No. 6 in Class 6A, uncomfortable. Between the fouls and just hounding the Firebirds’ ball-handlers with full-court pressure, the home team wasn’t going to have a good time, even in a victory.

“I don’t know if we’ve really seen any pressure defense all year,” FSHS coach Bryan Duncan said after his team committed 18 turnovers, seven coming in the third quarter. “And we’ve got good ball-handlers, and good decision-makers. We probably tried to put the ball on the floor a little too much, but part of that was (SMS) muddied it up. We also wanted to stay aggressive, and sometimes the best way to stay aggressive is to attack — and we did. We had a few too many turnovers, but we also got to the line a ton and kind of kept that cushion.”

Free State got its buffer in the first half, when senior Caiti Schlesener scored 10 of her 11 points and the Firebirds’ limited SMS to 5-for-23 shooting.

As the Raiders missed shots on one end of the floor, Free State produced enough in spurts throughout the first half to gradually build a 13-point lead at the break.

Sophomore Jaelyn Two Hearts drove into the middle of the lane to free Piper for a buzzer-beating layup to cap the second quarter.

Prior to that, Schlesener picked her spots to make assertive plays.

“She got us going,” Piper said of the 5-foot-4 guard. “She was able to make those good, smart plays to get to the rim or get fouled, and also had those great passes. It really got us energized.”

Free State sophomore point guard Cameryn Thomas produced a game-high 16 points, thanks to an 11-point fourth. She hit 12 of her 19 free throws in the win.

Said Duncan: “She’s been aggressive for quite a while, and that was great, because it would’ve been easy to get passive and quit attacking. And that is one thing we did not do.”

SM South (45)

Elizabeth Holmes 0-3 1-4 1, Karoline Shelton 3-6 1-4 7, Robyn MacDonald 2-6 1-6 6, Madi McAvoy 1-12 2-6 4, Clara Sitas 2-8 5-6 10, Crimson Barker 1-4 1-2 4, Meredith Bunker 2-5 2-2 8, Rakeya Martin 0-0 0-0 0, Carolyn Schneck 0-0 0-0 0, Gabi Green 1-1 0-0 2, Abby Gerber 1-3 0-0 3. Totals 13-48 13-30 45.

Free State (58)

Cameryn Thomas 2-4 12-19 16, Caiti Schlesener 3-7 5-7 11, Madison Piper 5-9 3-3 14, Hannah Walter 1-3 6-9 8, Peyton Brown 2-3 1-2 5, Jaelyn Two Hearts 0-2 3-4 3, Jaycie Bisop 0-0 1-2 1, Erin Cushing 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-29 31-46 58.

SM South 9 6 13 17 — 45

Free State 15 13 10 20 — 58

Three-point goals: SMS 3-5 (MacDonald, Sitas, Barker); FSHS 1-5 (Piper). Fouled out: SMS, Holmes, MacDonald, McAvoy. Turnovers: SMS 12, FSHS 18.