Emporia ? Baldwin High found itself in a barn-burner in an opening-round game of the girls Class 4A Division-II state basketball tournament on Wednesday night at White Auditorium.

As the No. 4-seeded Bulldogs tangled with fifth-seeded Clay Center, free throws proved to be the difference, where the Tigers converted nine of 12 in the final two minutes, 17 seconds of the fourth quarter to salt away a 53-48 victory.

Baldwin High senior Kyna Smith, center, drives between Clay Center defenders Katelyn Bohnenblust, left, and Allie Wright during their first round state basketball game on Wednesday in Emporia. Baldwin lost, 53-48.

Clay Center (19-4) advances to Friday’s semifinal at 6:30 p.m. against top-seeded Hugoton (22-1), which bounced Wichita Collegiate, 53-39.

“We knew they had a good team coming in,” Baldwin coach Bob Martin said after his team closed its season at 19-4. “I felt good until the last few seconds.

“We didn’t get a couple things go our way. We didn’t get a couple things to fall and missed a couple free throws after we put ourselves right there.”

Clay Center led 40-34 before Baldwin’s Kyna Smith, who scored a game-high 17 points, drained a three-point basket from the right corner. Teammate Madeline Neufeld then scored off a driving layup to slash the Tigers’ lead to 40-39 with 3:27 remaining.

Lauren Lane’s basket in the lane made it 42-39, Clay Center before Smith was whistled for a charging foul driving to the basket at the 3:15 mark, turning the ball back over to the Tigers.

Baldwin’s Fayth Peterson’s offensive rebound and putback slashed the margin to 42-41 before Clay Center began trekking to the foul line.

The Tigers’ Katelyn Bohnenblust sank two free throws with 2:17 remaining, and Allie Wright converted two more with 1:36 left for a 46-42 edge.

Taylor Cawley answered by knocking down a three from the right corner to pull Baldwin within 46-45 with 1:28 left.

But post player Courtney Hammel, who led Clay Center with 14 points, scored inside, and Wright sank a pair at the line for a 50-47 edge with 37.8 ticks left.

Clay Center outrebounded Baldwin, 40-31.

In the third quarter, Baldwin led 23-22 with 4:39 remaining in the period after Neufeld scored off a driving layup and also converted a three-point play.

Clay Center answered by scoring the next six points to retake the lead at 28-23 after Callaway scored in the paint for the Tigers.

From that juncture, Baldwin answered with a surge of its own, outscoring the Tigers 6-3, capped by Cawley’s layup, to close to 32-29 entering the final eight minutes.

Baldwin shot a chilly 25.9 percent from the floor in the opening half (7-for-27); Clay Center was worse at 22.2 percent (4-for-18).

Baldwin outscored Clay Center 8-1 during the opening four minutes of the second quarter for an 18-13 lead before the Tigers scored the final five points of the half.

Smith, who scored 12 first-half points on 4-for-9 shooting, including a three-pointer, and 3-for-3 on free throws, made a steal and layup and also had a driving layup for the slender five-point lead.

But the Tigers, converting three of four free foul shots and a basket, knotted the score at intermission.

In a sluggish start, Baldwin trailed 12-10 after the opening period.

Missing nine of their first 10 field goals at the outset, the Bulldogs crept back into contention after trailing 8-2 at the 3:15 mark in the quarter.

“We were overly excited to start the game,” Martin said. “It took us awhile to get settled down, and I don’t know if we ever did completely.

“We were pressing pretty hard, and things just didn’t fall for us.”

CLAY CENTER (19-4)

Allie Wright 1-7 9-12 11, Lauren Lane 2-5 4-7 8, Katelyn Bohnenblust 2-3 3-4 7, Courtney Hammel 5-6 4-5 14, Sydney Callaway 6-11 1-4 13, Savannah Kipfer 0-4 0-0 0, Hailey Franson 0-0 0-0 0, Addy Mullin 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-37 21-32 53.

BALDWIN (19-4)

Fayth Peterson 2-4 0-0 4, Abby Ogle 2-10-2 4, Taylor Cawley 3-12 0-0 8, Kyna Smith 5-17 5-5 17, Madeline Neufeld 3-11 3-5 9, Reilly Stewart 0-0 0-0 0, Megann Lawrenz 1-1 0-0 2, Lily Fursman 0-0 0-0 0, Riley O’Rourke 0-0 0-0 0, Kayla Kurtz 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 18-58 8-12 48.

Clay Center 12 6 14 21 — 53

Baldwin 10 8 11 19 — 48

Three-point goals — Baldwin 4-22 (Cawley 2-8, Smith 2-7, Ogle 0-5, Neufeld 0-2; Clay Center 0-6 (Wright 0-4, Kipfer 0-2). Rebounds — Clay Center 40 (Hammel 7, Wright 7, Lane 6, Bohnenblust 5, Callaway 5); Baldwin 31 (Peterson 6, Ogle 6, Neufeld 5). Assists — Clay Center 13 (Bohnenblust 8); Baldwin 8 (Neufeld 3). Turnovers — Clay Center 18, Baldwin 10.