photo by: Carter Gaskins

Free State junior Haley Hippe (20) and Hutchinson's Jayla Bynum (32) compete for a rebound at the Firebird Classic Tournament on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019.

About five minutes to go in the game, there was at least one thing the Free State girls basketball team was laughing about.

Lilliana Keathley’s shoe went airborne and crashed into the scorers table, causing an official timeout with just under four minutes to go in the game. Only, the Firebirds were trailing by nearly 20.

Free State just couldn’t seem to get anything going against Olathe East (No. 8 in Class 6A) in a 45-24 loss Tuesday night.

“I wish I could explain why we could look very good for a stretch of games and kind of lay an egg tonight,” FSHS coach Ted Juneau said. “We had no real energy, real lazy with our passes. We start standing around and we’re just never in the game.”

Free State (5-8, 1-4 Sunflower League) was limited in its chances early on in the game. The Firebirds, who had 10 turnovers in the first half, scored on only five of their 16 shot attempts. No Firebird had more than 4 points after the halftime buzzer.

Olathe East (10-3, 5-0) was paced by Makenna Winemiller in scoring, as she finished with a game-high 13 points. Entering Tuesday, Winemiller was ranked seventh in the league in scoring.

Defensively, the Hawks held the Firebirds to single-digit scoring in the first three quarters. By the end of the game, the Firebirds had nearly matched the Hawks in shots with a 36-33 differential, but struggled to sink baskets even on second-chance rebounds.

“There were some layups, a lot of layups, that just didn’t go in, (and) there were some opportunities for us to score that we didn’t take advantage of,” Juneau said. “Our defense wasn’t that bad, but when you score 12 points in a half, you’re going to have trouble no matter how good your defense is.”

Free State plays host to Shawnee Mission East at 5:30 p.m. Friday.

Olathe East (45)

Jillian Weishaar 2-4 0-0 4, Gracie Davis 1-3 0-0 2, LaSharea Richardson 1-3 0-0 2, Makenna Winemiller 4-9 3-4 13, Molly Kaemmer 6-6 0-1 12, Aubrey Rogers 1-4 2-2 4, Savanna Parez 2-6 0-0 6, Courtney Kearney 0-1 2-2 2. 17-36 7-9 45.

Free State (24)

Evy Harrell 2-6 2-4 6, Shannon Clarke 1-6 2-4 4, Sam Lawrence 0-6 0-0 0, Caely Kesten 2-3 0-0 4, Haley Hippe 3-8 0-0 6, Lillianna Keathley 2-2 0-0 4, Hope Wheeler-Halstead 0-1 0-0 0, Joy Nunoo 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 10-33 4-8 24.

Olathe East 16 13 6 10 – 45

Free State 4 8 2 10 – 24

3-point goals: East 4-12 (Winemiller 2, Parez 2); Free State 0-7. Turnovers: East 6, Free State 17. Fouled out: None.