Free State Junior Jaelyn Two Hearts sets up for a 3-pointer in Tuesday's 43-28 win over Shawnee Mission North. She finished with 14 points, including a 4-of-4 effort from downtown.

Free State girls basketball coach Ted Juneau wasn’t worried about how his team would play offensively despite not having the team’s leading scorer, Madison Piper.

Juneau was much more concerned with how his team would be able to fill the void of Piper (left foot) on the defensive end. The Firebirds responded with a well-executed zone defense in their 43-28 victory over Shawnee Mission North at home Tuesday.

“I told them yesterday, I wasn’t searching for more points,” Juneau said, “I’m search for more defense and rebounding. That’s what we lose with Madison gone. We are capable of scoring the basketball. We have some pretty good shooters.”

But it took a bit for FSHS to get accustomed to playing without its senior leader. The Indians leaped out to a 12-8 advantage in the first period, as freshman Eylia Bruce netted half of her game-high 24 points on 10 shots.

That’s when Juneau switched to a matchup zone and had players like junior Erin Cushing and sophomore Sam Lawrence shade to Bruce on the perimeter. Following her 6-of-10 effort in the first period, the 6-foot guard hit just three of her next 12 shots over the final three quarters.

As a result, Shawnee Mission North was held to single digits in each of the next three periods, including a total of nine points in the second half. Only one player (Hannah Redick) made a field goal outside of Bruce, as Redick made one of six attempts.

“It’s not good that we started off slow, but it’s good that we can come back from that,” junior Jaelyn Two Hearts said. “We turned it up defensively. We kept saying we had to pull ourselves together because this is our only chance. We only have six games left.”

Two Hearts did her best to step in Piper’s absence on the offense end with a team-high 14 points, all of which came in the second half. She notched all but six of Free State’s 20 second-half points, going 5-of-9 from the floor, including a 4-of-4 mark behind the 3-point line.

After being held to just eight points in the opening quarter, Free State (9-6, 3-3) scored 28 points over the next two periods and maintained a double-digit advantage for much of the contest. Junior Cameryn Thomas, senior Jaycie Bishop and Lawrence all notched six points each.

“It was a great team effort,” Juneau said. “We had eight kids play and contribute. They all knew what the situation was. We had a lot of patience and we weren’t selfish with the basketball. I was just so proud of them.”

Free State will play host to Olathe South at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

SHAWNEE MISSION NORTH (28)

Mackenzie Vielhauer 0-1 0-0 0, Eylia Bruce 9-22 6-13 24, Alexis Jones 0-5 1-3 1, Hannah Redick 1-6 0-0 3. Totals: 10-34 7-16 28.

FREE STATE (43)

Sam Lawrence 2-9 2-2 6, Cameryn Thomas 3-8 0-3 6, Caely Kesten 1-3 0-0 2, Jaelyn Two Hearts 5-9 0-0 14, Jaycie Bishop 2-7 0-0 6, Erin Cushing 2-6 0-0 5, Haley Hippe 2-3 0-0 4. Totals: 17-45 2-5 43.

SM North 12 7 4 5 — 28

Free State 8 15 13 7 — 43