After the final horn sounded, some of Free State High’s girls basketball players wiped tears out of their eyes as they watched Hutchinson celebrate on the court.

The Firebirds were held without a field goal for the final five minutes in the Firebird Winter Classic semifinals and couldn’t hold off Hutchinson in a 35-34 loss at FSHS.

Senior forward Sarah Coversup made a layup to give the Firebirds a 33-25 lead with 5:28 left, before the Salthawks went on a 10-1 run for the remainder of the game.

Hutchinson (8-3) took its first lead with 10.1 seconds left when senior Jordan Downing drilled two free throws, her only points of the game.

Free State nearly responded with a game-winning basket, but a fadeaway jump shot by sophomore Madison Piper went off the side of the rim. Senior forward Adriana Jadlow was fouled after grabbing the offensive rebound with 1.1 seconds left, but she missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw, and Piper’s attempt for a tip-in was short.

“It’s really tough, especially because there’s so many things that you feel like you could’ve done,” said Piper, who scored 12 points and had four rebounds. “I could’ve made that free throw (with 47 seconds left), and it wouldn’t have been (a two-point game). I could’ve made that shot. I could’ve came down with the ball. We just need to play better as a team.”

The Firebirds (9-2, ranked No. 5 in Class 6A) struggled against Hutchinson’s full-court press without freshman point guard Cameryn Thomas, who has missed the last two games because of a knee injury. They had an uncharacteristic 18 turnovers, including five in the fourth quarter.

“It changed the rhythm, and just the way we move, the way we pass and the way we cut,” said FSHS coach Bryan Duncan of playing without Thomas. “It’s an adjustment. We’re really not designed to be a team that’s just interchangeable. We all have a lot of specific roles, and when we’re not allowed to play those roles, it made us adjust.”

Coversup and Piper provided all of the Free State scoring in the first half. Coversup scored 10 of her game-high 18 points in the first quarter on 4-of-4 shooting.

But the Salthawks put extra defensive attention on the two in the second half, which limited the Firebirds’ offense. Jadlow scored four of Free State’s six points in the third quarter.

“They definitely stuck to us and wouldn’t let us go,” Piper said. “They played really good defense. They deserved that game.”

The Firebirds held the Salthawks to 32 percent shooting (12-for-38), but Hutchinson scored off of turnovers and a few offensive rebounds in the final minutes.

Freshman forward Kasey Hazell led with 13 points.

“We thought we were really good defensively all night,” Duncan said. “I thought we played to the game plan well. We defended them. We did everything we needed to do except score the ball.”

The Firebirds will face Wichita Heights in the third-place game at 12:30 p.m. today.

FREE STATE (34)

Morgan Gantz 0-0 0-1 0, Jaycie Bishop 0-1 0-0 0, Adriana Jadlow 1-2 2-3 4, Madison Piper 5-9 2-3 12, Sarah Coversup 6-11 5-6 18, Hannah Shoemaker 0-0 0-0 0, Hannah Walter 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 12-23 9-13 34.

HUTCHINSON (35)

Jenna Higgins 0-6 0-0 0, Shayla DeGarmo 3-8 1-2 9, Jordan Downing 0-1 2-2 2, Emily Wessel 2-3 2-2 6, Abby Calvillo 2-4 0-0 4, Kasey Hazell 5-13 3-5 13, Connor Atkinson 0-1 0-0 0, Lyric Martin 0-2 0-0 0, Chaliese Scales 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 12-38 9-13 35.

Hutchinson 8 9 8 10 — 35

Free State 15 8 6 5 — 34

Three-point field goals: Free State 1-3 (Coversup); Hutchinson 2-12 (DeGarmo 2). Turnovers: Free State 18, Hutchinson 8.