photo by: Photo courtesy Summer Frantz

The Free State girls basketball team poses at the University of Oklahoma basketball camp.

The Free State and Lawrence girls basketball programs are heading into the 2026-27 season with young rosters once again, but both teams are taking advantage of the summer to grow together.

Lawrence girls basketball succeeded last season in large part due to the team’s passing and ball movement. To start this summer, the team went back to the basics as they shook off the rust from not having played together for several months.

“We showed some resiliency that, for as young as we are right now, I was very impressed with,” Lawrence coach Jeff Dickson said “We won all four games at the Midwest Showcase, and we were down by double digits in three of the four games and won all of them.”

In Lawrence’s final game, the team started down 19-2 before coming back to win. The Lions did this while keeping senior center Cami Nauholz out as she suffered a rolled ankle.

Even if the team started off slowly, there were notable standouts for the Lions this summer. Senior Kiana Attakai has stepped up as a guard, as has incoming freshman Jordyn Dooley, whom Dickson said has an unusual poise and ability for a freshman.

The last two years, the Lions have had strong freshman classes that have been able to contribute early in their careers. This year will be no different. Dickson has been impressed with a squad of incoming freshmen who can contribute.

The Lions have a lot of players who Dickson believes will be able to defend at a high level.

“I think it’s going to end up being a strength for us,” Dickson said. “Some of the kids that we’ve got coming in have some length and have some size, so it’s not going to just be Cami. We have some other kids out there that are going to allow Cami to do some different things to make her even more versatile.”

One of the most important parts of the summer is the bonding. The connection between the team last year was a strength of the team and helped them into the playoffs. Continuing to have that connection is important for the Lions this season.

“We spent a lot of time on team building,” Dickson said. “We spent a lot of time doing things together, and I think we’ve had a super successful summer so far.”

Free State has been busy with camps and tournaments of its own, including going down to the University of Oklahoma for the third year in a row. Outside of that, there’s been a lot of skill work, weight lifting and more development to strengthen the team.

Throughout it all, Free State coach Summer Frantz said the team has had a consistent number of Firebirds attending.

“We’ve had a really good kind of core group that I’ve really been proud of in terms of their commitment level and the work they’ve put in,” Frantz said. “Quinlynn Vale and Morgan McClory have been really great, and they’re going to make a big jump between their freshman and sophomore years.”

Frantz said the two sophomores have shown their commitment by being with the team as often as possible. Frantz also praised senior Mallory Hice as another Firebird who has shown both progress on the court and as a leader for the team.

“Those three have kind of stood out, but we have a lot of kids that have been putting in work and making strides as well,” Frantz said.

Throughout the summer game competitions, the Firebirds have been in gritty games, which is par for the course for Free State over the last few years. Frantz said the team knows that in order to win games in the Sunflower League, it’s going to take a lot of grit.

“We do have some really tough kids who aren’t afraid to be physical and mix it up a little bit,” Frantz said. “Most of our wins have been kind of ugly, grind-it-out type of games. But honestly, that’s good in the summer.”

The Firebirds will be without a lot of size this season, which means tenacity and toughness on defense will be another priority. Frantz said the team has had a few injuries that have prevented the implementation of offensive and defensive schemes, but the team has been able to focus on playing tenacious and together.

It’s been a long summer, but each game makes a big difference when the season comes around. Frantz said the team has gotten closer and identified the path to success for the season.

“We’ve played a lot of games — maybe too many games, honestly, with kind of the numbers we’ve had — but we’ve had to be really tough,” Frantz said. “We’ve had that core group come together and realize that we have to be really good defensively, and we have to compensate for lack of size with willing to be more physical.”

photo by: Photo courtesy Jeff Dickson

The Lawrence girls basketball team poses during a summer basketball tournament.