Junior Haley Hippe (20) looks for the ball in the seventh place game against Barstow. Free State won 40-20.

OLATHE — Free State’s girls basketball team was able to hold Barstow to 20 points on defense without allowing 3-pointer en route to a 40-20 win to take seventh place in the Lady Hawks Basketball Classic Friday night at Olathe East.

“We still missed a lot of opportunities to score in and around the basket but boy we’re equal opportunity – everyone does it,” coach Ted Juneau said. “We moved the ball well, took more time, were patient. Defensively I thought we were great.”

Junior Haley Hippe and senior Samantha Lawrence made key baskets to jump the Firebirds (2-2) out to an early lead to enter the half up 19-11. Hippe and sophomore Shannon Clarke continued to pace free State in scoring as they combined for 20 points with each netting double-digit scoring efforts.

“I thought Sam had a great all around game for us, sometimes she gets overlooked because some of the other guys score score some more but she’s a real trooper for us,” Juneau said.

Lawrence made two 3-pointers on seven attempts from behind the arc for the Firebirds’ only of the game. Lawrence, Hippe and Caely Kesten grabbed rebounds on offense to create a lot of second chance shots.

With 6 points off the bench in Joy Nunoo, Daeci Jaillite-Walker and Katelin Hollinshed, the Firebirds found ways to create opportunities for nearly its whole lineup. Alexa Kesten and Hope Wheeler-Halstead each had a shot late in the game as well.

As Free State’s offense continued its pace, the Firebirds defense only played harder. There was not a quarter where Barstow scored more than 6 points.

“Our starting five is really strong on defense,” Clarke said. “Not letting them get to the line, not getting in foul trouble is probably our biggest concern (on defense).”

By grabbing many defensive rebounds and forcing five turnovers in transition, the Firebirds limited the Knights to just 3 points in the fourth quarter on five shots. Twins Brylee and Jaelyn Glenn from Barstow scored 15 of the Knights’ 20 points.

“I think defense moves the game forward, it moves our offense forward,” Lawrence said. “It gets us steals, it gets us fast break layups, it will pump us up so we can have good flow on offense.

As a result Juneau remains confident in his team after splitting the first four games of the season.

“Defensively all year we’ve been strong, we’ve just struggled to score ourselves,” Juneau said. “Two-and-two is a lot better than one-and-three.”

Free State will travel to face Shawnee Mission West at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Free State (40)

Shannon Clarke 4-16 2-3 10, Haley Hippe 4-11 2-4 10, Caely Kesten 3-11 0-0 6, Sam Lawrence 2-11 0-0 6, Evy Harrell 1-4 0-0 2, Joy Nunoo 0-1 2-2 2, Daeci Jaillite-Walker 1-1 0-0 2, Katelin Hollinshed 1-3 0-0 2, Alexa Kesten 0-1 0-0 0, Hope Wheeler-Halstead 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-60 6-9 40.

Blue Valley Southwest (20)

Brylee Glenn 3-13 3-4 9, Jaelyn Glenn 2-14 2-4 6, Samantha Georgie 1-3 0-0 2, Lexi Dixon 1-4 0-2 2, Addy Betts 0-1 1-4 1, Selena Spurrier 0-1 0-0, Erin Pryor 0-0 0-0 0, Liddy Scurato 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 7-37 6-14 20.

Free State 10 9 6 15 – 40

Barstow 6 5 6 3 – 20

3-point field goals: Free State 2-13 (Lawrence 2); Barstow 0-5. Turnovers: Free State 9, Barstow 14.