photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Free State coach Summer Frantz talks with her team during a timeout during Free State's girls basketball jamboree against Wellsville, Ottawa and Perry-Lecompton at Free State High School on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Lawrence.

Free State’s girls basketball team got an early taste at what the upcoming season will look like as the Firebirds hosted a jamboree on Tuesday.

Free State faced Wellsville, Ottawa and Perry-Lecompton in a short, four-minute halves jamboree. The scrimmages came three practices after the team went through roster cuts, so the team got some early experience working through game-day situations.

“We’ve really only been able to have a brief overview of a lot of different things,” Free State coach Summer Frantz said. “It’s good to see us go against different people… it’s hard sometimes going against each other. It’ll be good to see (the jamboree) on film. The film will be really helpful for us.”

The Firebirds are still a young squad this season. There are only two seniors — Addie Fulscher and Libby Easter — and five juniors. Those that have been at Free State have played long enough to develop chemistry with each other, but the Firebirds will still need some freshmen or sophomores to step into roles this season.

What helps Free State with those young players is the team’s overall athleticism. Frantz said that the team is more athletic, and that they “have players who just really like to compete and get after it.” That hustle and athleticism will help the Firebirds compete with the Sunflower League and teams that have more size.

One of the ways the Firebirds can take advantage of the athleticism of the team is with a fast play style both on offense and defense. The Firebirds want to move the ball around, run hard and score in transition. Fulscher said that while the Firebirds may not have the fastest team, “we can make up for it with our speed.”

“We’re getting out and running a lot more than we did in the past, and I think it’s because we did work on it in every practice, even tryouts, summer conditioning… that’s all we’ve worked on,” junior Sarai Preston said.

Having a strong team chemistry helps as Free State turns up the pace of the game. The time the team spent over summer in practices helped set a strong foundation for the speed with which the Firebirds will play.

What also helped was the time that most of the Firebirds spent on the football field this past fall. The Free State flag football team featured a lot of basketball players, along with coach Frantz. By practicing and spending time together in football, Fulscher said the chemistry of the basketball team has grown even stronger.

On the other end, the Firebirds want to be aggressive. The Firebirds showed an ability to intercept passes, steal the ball and trap ball handlers.

“We can do some things defensively that we haven’t been able to do in the past because we have the athletes for it,” Frantz said. “I’m excited — obviously we’re undersized, but if we can do some things to help mitigate that lack of size I think we can do some things that are fun.”

On Tuesday, the Firebirds played an aggressive brand of defense, but it led to a number of fouls that would have put the Firebirds in a tough situation had it been a full game. Preston said she herself is learning the fine line between fouling and playing aggressive, while Fulscher said it’s something the whole team is working on figuring out.

“We don’t have the depth to get into foul trouble, and we know that, so we have to be smarter,” Frantz said. “We talked in practice about, at the beginning of the season, the whistle is going to blow a lot. We got a little too handsy at times, so we have to be smarter about that.”

With the jamboree over, the Firebirds have a lot of time to watch the film, put in work in practices and get ready for the start of the regular season. Free State’s regular season begins on Dec. 2 when the Firebirds host Junction City at 5:30 p.m.

“We definitely learned a lot,” Frantz said. “We knew there would be some ugly spots and some things to work through, but having this jamboree is really nice because now we have film from it and have a whole week before we play.”

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Free State senior Addie Fulscher looks to pass during Free State’s girls basketball jamboree against Wellsville, Ottawa and Perry-Lecompton at Free State High School on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Lawrence.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Free State junior Sarai Preston receives a pass from sophomore Addi Hothan during Free State’s girls basketball jamboree against Wellsville, Ottawa and Perry-Lecompton at Free State High School on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Lawrence.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Free State freshman Taylor Hulcher drives with the ball during Free State’s girls basketball jamboree against Wellsville, Ottawa and Perry-Lecompton at Free State High School on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Lawrence.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Free State freshman Morgan McClorey begins her shot during Free State’s girls basketball jamboree against Wellsville, Ottawa and Perry-Lecompton at Free State High School on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Lawrence.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Free State freshman Quinlynn Vail shoots the ball during Free State’s girls basketball jamboree against Wellsville, Ottawa and Perry-Lecompton at Free State High School on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Lawrence.