Free State junior Cameryn Thomas (10) guards Shawnee Mission Northwest senior Emmalee Rose (21) during the first half of the Firebirds' 52-50 road loss on Friday.

Shawnee ? Free State senior Madison Piper and the Firebirds had a roller coaster of an evening against Shawnee Mission Northwest on Friday, but much to their chagrin, the ride came to a painful end with a 52-50 loss to the Cougars.

Piper was held scoreless in the first half after being limited to just two shots. Sophomore Hannah Black and junior Megan Nugent took turns face-guarding Piper, but the Free State senior was able to get going in the second half.

After the No. 9-ranked Firebirds (8-6, 2-3) found themselves in a 22-3 hole with 2:40 remaining in the second quarter, Piper and Cameryn Thomas led a furious second-half charge to give Free State a 38-37 lead with 6:37 remaining.

Piper converted a traditional 3-point to cap off the Firebirds’ 35-15 run, but Free State’s lead was short-lived. The Cougars answered with a 7-0 spurt, and never relinquished the lead the rest of the way.

“At halftime, we knew our shots weren’t falling,” Thomas, who came up with five steals to go along with her team-high 18 points, said. “Offensively, things weren’t going our way, so we decided to control what we could control and that was defense. We felt that that would be the game-changer.”

Thomas scored two of the Firebirds’ three first-half buckets — both traditional 3-point plays after steals at the other end. The Firebirds rallied behind Thomas after the break, and made up the bulk of the 19-point deficit by forcing seven turnovers on seven of the Cougars’ final 10 possessions of the third quarter.

While the Cougars continued to clamp down on Piper in the second half, the Free State senior made contested shot after contested shot to finish with 14 points.

“I think part of it is that they were playing her really close. We made a couple of adjustments at half,” Free State coach Ted Juneau said. “Kids set some good picks for her, and she got more aggressive about it. The bottom line was she got a few more shots because some of our other kids were getting layups and drives to the basket.”

Piper’s night was cut short, though, after suffering an ankle injury with 1:36 to play. Juneau did not have an update on Piper’s health after the game.

Despite the loss and uncertainty of the severity of Piper’s injury, Juneau was pleased with how the Firebirds battled down the stretch.

“I thought it was a really good team effort the second half,” Juneau said. “We came together pretty darn well, I thought. Six, seven, eight kids played coming off the bench with Jaycie (Bishop), Erin (Cushing) and our freshman (Haley) Hippe had to put some minutes in. I was proud of all that.”

The Firebirds will host Shawnee Mission North at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

SMNW (52)

Gena Ojeda 4-9 2-4 14, Megan Nugent 1-3 0-0 2, Emmalee Rose 2-8 3-6 8, Hannah Black 1-2 0-0 3, Sarah Petersen 1-1 0-0 2, Jordann Nachbar 9-9 3-7 21, Rachel Seibold 0-0 2-2 2, Haley Nunnink 0-0 0-0 0, Donavyn Hill 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 17-29 10-19 52.

FSHS (50)

Sam Lawrence 0-3 0-0 0, Cameryn Thomas 6-12 6-8 18, Caely Kesten 2-6 3-4 7, Madison Piper 5-11 2-3 14, Jaelyn Two Hearts 4-12 0-0 9, Jaycie Bishop 0-4 0-0 0, Erin Cushing 0-0 2-2 2, Haley Hippe 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 17-46 13-17 50.

SMNW 13 11 13 15 — 52

FSHS 3 5 25 17 — 50

Three-point goals: SMNW 6-14 (Ojeda 4, Black, Rose); FSHS 3-12 (Piper 2, Two Hearts). Fouled out: Hannah Black, SMNW. Turnovers: SMNW 17, FSHS 10.