Free State freshman Shannon Clarke drives into traffic during the second half of the Firebirds' 60-34 loss to Shawnee Mission Northwest on Wednesday.

SHAWNEE — After winning back-to-back games, Free State girls basketball coach Ted Juneau was curious to see how his team would perform against a little bit stiffer competition on Wednesday against SM Northwest.

Juneau acknowledged that the Cougars were going to be a handful for the Firebirds to deal with from what he saw on the scouting report, but he was disappointed that Free State didn’t put up more of a fight in a 60-34 setback.

“We didn’t have an answer for anything. They’d drive past us,” Juneau said. “We couldn’t guard anyone 1-on-1. We knew that post play was going to be important. We knew who could shoot the ball. We knew all of those things. We just didn’t go out and execute.”

Two of the SM Northwest’s post players beat the Firebirds with their all-around game, as junior Hannah Black and senior Jordann Nachbar scored 16 points apiece. Black drained four 3-pointers, and Nachbar added a triple.

“We just have trouble when we’ve got to play people that have three bigs,” Juneau said. “We get mismatched and then we just get into lots of trouble defensively. That’s still not an excuse for not being able to execute our offense and get some ball movement.”

Senior Erin Cushing paced the Firebirds (4-15, 4-8 in the Sunflower League) with nine points. Cushing’s first bucket came on an uncontested layup after Juneau worked out a deal with SM Northwest coach Tyler Stewart to have a special start to the game. Northwest guard Megan Nugent had been sidelined all season with a knee injury, but Stewart wanted to honor her on senior night. Nugent stood underneath the Cougars’ basket during the opening tip before Nachbar dished it to her for an easy two. The Cougars (13-6, 8-4) returned the favor by allowing Cushing to drive in for a layup to tie it.

Stewart thanked Juneau after the game, and the Free State coach had some high praise for his counterpart.

“They played well. They’re a good team, well-coached,” Juneau said. “(Stewart) really does a good job with his personnel and getting them in places to score and do well. My hat is off to him as well.”

As the Firebirds prepare for their final regular season game on Friday when they play host to SM West, Juneau is expecting much more energy from his squad.

“It’s between the ears as much as anything at this point of the season,” Juneau said. “There isn’t a whole lot that if we practice an hour-and-a-half that we’re going to get things solved. It’s whether they want to play hard. That didn’t happen today and I’m really disappointed.”

FREE STATE (34)

Erin McClorey 0-1 0-0 0, Sam Lawrence 1-7 0-0 3, CK Kesten 3-6 0-0 6, Shannon Clarke 3-5 1-2 7, Haley Hippe 1-7 3-4 5, Erin Cushing 3-4 2-3 9, Mayela Edwards 0-1 0-0 0, Liliana Keathley 1-3 0-0 2, Joy Nunoo 0-1 0-0 0, Rose Pilakowski 0-0 0-0 0, Katelin Holllinshed 0-0 0-0 0, Lauren Jones 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 13-35 6-9 34.

SM NORTHWEST (60)

Abby Winter 0-2 1-2 1, D’Asya Collier-Williams 3-7 0-0 7, Megan Formwalt 0-2 0-0 0, Rachel Seibold 4-4 0-0 10, Kennedy Taylor 2-6 0-2 4, Hannah Black 6-8 0-0 16, Jordann Nachbar 6-8 3-3 16, Megan Hanson 0-3 0-0 0, Sarah Petersen 2-3 0-0 4, Megan Nugent 1-1 0-0 2, Jackie McKay 0-0 0-0 0, Mollie Elfrink 0-0 0-0 0, Maggie O’Neill 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-44 4-7 60.

Free State 11 4 13 6 — 34

SM Northwest 21 11 23 5 — 60

3-point goals: Free State 2-8 (Cushing, Lawrence); SM Northwest 8-19 (Black 4, Seibold 2, Nachbar, Collier-Williams). Fouled out: None. Turnovers: Free State 11, SM Northwest 7.