FSHS girls basketball falls in overtime to Leavenworth; boys secure 19-point win

It appeared like the Free State girls’ basketball team had its third win of the season all wrapped up on Tuesday — until Leavenworth made one final push in its 57-54 win at FSHS.

The Firebirds found themselves leading for most of the second half after an 18-point third quarter, which helped the team take a 40-35 lead into the fourth.

But with under 10 seconds to play in the fourth, and Free State clinging to a 50-48 lead, Leavenworth freshman Cierra Robinson drove the length of the court and delivered a game-tying layup in the closing seconds of regulation to send the game to overtime.

The Pioneers battled back into the game after forcing several crucial turnovers and holding the Firebirds to 10 points in the fourth quarter.

“We get four, five points ahead with a couple minutes to go, and we just don’t do the things we needed to do to close the game out,” said Free State coach Ted Juneau.

In overtime, Leavenworth junior Alyche Brown made two free throws, and Robinson added another five points to help push Leavenworth’s lead to 57-50 with a minute to play.

The Firebirds didn’t score their first points of overtime until the final minute, when Free State junior Mayela Edwards made a contested layup. Free State junior Sam Lawrence also scored two points in overtime.

Free State built a second-half lead after an offensive outburst from Shannon Clarke, who scored all 16 of her points after intermission.

“She was great,” Juneau said. “She’s getting better and better every time out.”

But the Firebirds committed 15 turnovers in the game, with three coming in overtime.

“We were kind of up and down,” Juneau said. “We came out, played very well early, but a rash of turnovers let them back into it.”

Free State boys 71, Leavenworth 52

After Garrett Luinstra’s first three-pointer of the night fell through the hoop early in the first quarter, the Firebirds offense never lost its rhythm the rest of the way.

Luinstra’s three was one of 11 made by Free State in its 71-52 win over Leavenworth on Tuesday at FSHS.

The three-point shot also helped Free Stack attack Leavenworth’s defense, which played in a 2-3 zone for most of the game. The Firebirds scored 24 points in the first quarter and took commanding 42-23 lead into halftime.

“I liked the way we moved the ball, shared the ball, and, for the most part, (we had) good shot selection against the zone,” said Free State boys’ basketball coach Sam Stroh.

Luinstra, who scored a game-high 22 points and was 6 of 8 from 3, did most of his damage from three-point range in the third quarter. He made three 3s in the quarter, which would turn out to be his final quarter of the game.

“He looked good,” Stroh said. “When he’s on, he’s on. He hit a couple big shots to start the game … it was good to see.”

Free State girls (54)

Sam Lawrence 4-8 1-2 11, Evy Harrell 0-1 0-0 0, Caely Kesten 5-11 2-2 15, Shannon Clarke 7-11 1-4 16, Haley Hippe 2-4 2-2 6, Mayela Edwards 2-7 1-3 6, Erin Cushing 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-43 7-13 54.

Leavenworth girls (57)

Jailynn Brooks 0-1 0-0 0, Aleshia Jones 5-17 1-2 12, Alexis Cole 3-6 2-4 8, Alyche Brown 4-14 4-6 13, Saniyah Hammonds 0-2 0-0 0, Cierra Robinson 4-12 5-6 15, McKenzie Brown 4-8 1-2 9. Totals 20-60 13-20 57.

Free State 13 9 18 10 4 — 54

Leavenworth 13 12 10 15 7 — 57

3-point goals: Free State 6-13 (Kesten 3, Lawrence 2, Edwards); Leavenworth 4-18 (Robinson 2, Jones, Brown). Fouled out: none. Turnovers: Free State 15, Leavenworth 8.

Free State boys (71)

Jared Hicks 0-2 0-0 0, Garrett Luinstra 8-10 0-0 22, Avant Edwards 1-7 1-1 3, Simon McCaffrey 3-6 0-0 9, Bansi King 3-6 2-3 10, Noah Butler 5-9 1-2 11, Zach McDermott 7-11 0-0 14, Turner Corcoran 0-1 0-0 0, Jalan Robinson 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 28-54 4-6 71.

Leavenworth boys (52)

Kevin Payne 2-5 0-0 4, Steele Sadler 1-1 0-0 3, Tah-Ji Pinch 4-5 0-0 7, Daniel Lentz 0-0 1-2 1, Michael Sauer 5-7 2-2 13, Nehemiah Griffin 0-2 0-0 0, Zachary Thiel 1-6 0-0 3, Nathan Dalby 2-4 0-0 5, Reece Williams 6-17 1-1 14, Alan Robinson 0-0 2-2 2. Totals: 21-47 6-7 52.

Free State 24 18 20 9 — 71

Leavenworth 11 12 18 11 — 52

3-point goals: Free State 11-24 (Luinstra 6, McCaffrey 3, King 2); Leavenworth 6-15 (Sadler, Pinch, Sauer, Thiel, Dalby, Williams). Fouled out: none. Turnovers: Free State 8, Leavenworth 11.