FSHS girls surrender 28 free-throw attempts in loss at SM South

OVERLAND PARK — Caely Kesten drove to the hoop and felt contact. She put the ball up and in. The whistle blew for the and-one.

Free State, down double-figures earlier in the game, had pulled within six in the third quarter. The call didn’t prove all that important, as Free State fell 51-41, but it was still much to the chagrin of Shawnee Mission coach Terry Tinch, who flagged down the official immediately.

“No!” Tinch shouted, holding the note for several seconds before pointing to the scorers table. “Even they don’t believe it.”

However believable it was, that exact thing marked the biggest discrepancy between the Firebirds (2-14, 2-7 in league) and Raiders on Friday — only it went in the other direction.

The Firebirds got to the line nine times and made four free throws. The Raiders had one player — Robyn MacDonald — tab 11 attempts by herself.

As a team, Shawnee Mission South shot 23 for 28 at the line, with only two of those attempts coming when the Firebirds were aggressively trapping late in the fourth quarter.

“I will tell you that I thought we did a decent job probably being as aggressive in our man-to-man as we’ve been all year. That was for a reason,” Juneau said. “It is what it is. They call the fouls and you play the game. If we don’t have them, then we don’t have a game.

“It seemed like a big difference.”

As Juneau noted, it wasn’t solely the officiating that decided the game. The Firebirds played hesitant on offense for much of the night, a stark comparison to the way the game started.

Kesten opened the scoring with a made 3-pointer and then got back to the line for two foul shots. She missed both, but Sam Lawrence scored on a reverse layup the next possession to put Free State up 5-0. That was their largest — and only — lead of the game.

“It’s just amazing how we just get a little bit hesitant, lose our confidence a little bit,” Juneau said. “We want to play to the level of our competition, but not quite enough to beat ’em.

“All season we’ve done that. When we play a really good team, for the most part, we battle ’em. When we play a team that’s probably to our level, you know, we battle hard. But we don’t do the little things it takes to win the game.”

The Raiders responded with a 7-0 run and then began to work their way to the line — over and over and over.

Shawnee Mission South shot 15 free throws in the first half, making 13 of them. The Firebirds only shot four free throws in the period, going 1 for 4. After a start that saw the foul discrepancy work in favor of the Firebirds, 4-1, it finished the other way, 19-12.

“Of course we get frustrated, but the calls are already called and there’s nothing we can do about it,” Kesten said. “I think some of that was taking away from our energy today, but we just have to know to keep our energy up and that’s what’s going to keep us going.”

While neither Kesten nor Juneau blamed the officials — “(The loss) has nothing to do with the officiating,” Juneau said — the coach did relent it could’ve been one factor in the hesitancy he saw in his team, both on offense and defense.

“We’re still fragile on the bench a little bit, especially when Shannon (Clark) and Haley (Hippe) get in trouble,” Juneau said. “I thought Haley and Shannon both inside battled pretty hard in rebounding. I think they were in a situation where it was tough for them to figure out what they could and couldn’t do on defense sometimes.”

If there was a positive, though, it came in the form of a bench player stepping up.

Facing off against a zone defense for extended stretches, Juneau used Liliana Keathley as an extra big on the floor and said he was pleased with what he saw.

Juneau noted Keathley might even see her role increase with only a few games remaining in Sunflower League play, while Kesten noted she had been impressed with several of the bench players as of late.

“Hustle is a big thing. They come in, they work hard,” Kesten said. “They just go at it. 50-50 balls, they’re getting it. Rebounds they’re getting it. Every opportunity they have, they just try and go get that.”

Free State (41)

Sam Lawrence 3-13 0-0 7, Caely Kesten 4-12 1-5 10, Shannon Clarke 3-7 2-2 9, Haley Hippe 4-9 0-0 8, Erin Cushing 1-6 1-2 3, Mayela Edwards 1-3 0-0 2, Erin McClorey 0-0 0-0 0, Liliana Keathley 1-2 0-2 2, Joy Nunoo 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-53 4-9 41.

Shawnee Mission South (51)

Meredith Bunker 3-7 4-5 12, Elisabeth Crawford 0-1 2-2 2, Karoline Shelton 4-7 2-2 10, Robyn MacDonald 1-7 10-11 12, Abby Gerber 2-6 0-0 5, Lacy Whitcomb 2-7 4-6 9, Natalie Payne 0-2 1-2 1. Totals 12-37 23-28 51.

Free State 8 9 16 8 — 41

SM South 9 14 17 11 — 51

Three-point goals: Free State 3-17 (Lawrence, Kesten, Clarke 1); SM South 4-15 (Bunker 2, Gerber, Whitcomb 1). Fouled out: none. Turnovers: Free State 11, SM South 14.