photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

Free State freshman Morgan McClorey keeps her eye on the ball as it is brought down the court by Junction City on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, at Free State High School in Lawrence.

The Free State boys and girls basketball teams began their seasons on Tuesday night, with the girls defeating the Blue Jays, 53-28, while the boys fell, 64-51.

The Firebirds’ girls team failed to score in the first quarter, but kept itself in the game on defense in the first quarter, allowing the offense to finally explode for 53 points over the final three periods.

“I was really, really proud with the way they played defense,” Free State girls basketball coach Summer Frantz said. “It started on defense and we fed off our defense, and we finally saw the ball go in the basket.”

In her first career varsity start and game, freshman guard Morgan McClorey scored a game-high 16 points, showing off her ability to get to the lane for high-percentage shots.

McClorey credits her dad’s coaching for her ability to be able to attack downhill with the ball in her hands.

“I get that aggressiveness from him, but I think just wanting to win the game and getting my team there,” she said.

Added Frantz: “She just competes and gets after it, and we see that in practice everyday. (I’m) definitely proud of her for starting off her freshman year that way.”

A slow offensive start by both teams saw Free State trailing 7-0 after the first quarter. The Firebirds cut the deficit to two just over a minute into the second quarter from a field goal by McClorey and a 3-pointer by freshman guard Quinlynn Vail.

After a Junction City 3-pointer, a pair of McClorey baskets kick-started a 13-0 run, giving Free State an 18-10 advantage. Both teams traded baskets with the Blue Jays hitting a 3-pointer right before half to give the Firebirds a 20-15 lead at the break.

“I think we were kind of tight,” Frantz said of the first quarter struggles. “Our younger players were a little bit nervous, even our seniors, were a little bit. I think it was good for them to get that out of the way. And then Morgan hit that first basket off a great pass from Addie (Fulscher) and it kind of got everyone going.”

Free State opened the third quarter scoring seven consecutive points thanks to a Vail 3-pointer and two field goals by McClorey. A pair of 3s by Fulscher extended the lead to 14 before a Junction City basket with 12 seconds to go made the score 35-23 after the third.

An 8-1 run by the Firebirds to start the fourth quarter put Free State in control for the rest of the game as the team held on for the 53-28 final score.

With the win, Free State improves to 1-0 on the young season, which Frantz says excited the group, especially since the team has only been able to practice six times.

“This is a little bit early to have our first game, but now we have over a week before we go to Garden City for our tournament, so now we have that film and just that practice time to just keep getting better,” she said.

The boys team also dealt with an early deficit, but couldn’t recover, despite cutting the margin to six points in the second half.

“Junction (City)’s good, so not taking anything away from them, we didn’t play hard and then didn’t stick to what helped us have success during practice and our jamboree,” boys head coach Dwayne Paul said.

The Blue Jays came out the gate with all the momentum, scoring the first 11 points and making their first four shots. The Firebirds’ first points of the game came from a mid-range shot by guard Brendan Barrett, before five more points by the Blue Jays made the score 16-2.

“I think that we weren’t patient,” Paul said. “We just kept taking the bait and just not having the patience.”

Barrett added five more points in the quarter while Junction City extended its lead to 23-9 after a buzzer-beating floater.

Junction City extended its lead to as many as 16 points in the second quarter before the Free State offense finally garnered consistency. 3-pointers by Barrett, guard Bennett Nagel, guard Jayden Williams and a buzzer-beater by guard Jadon Clock cut the deficit to nine at halftime, with Junction City ahead 38-29.

After two straight Blue Jays baskets extended their lead to 12, the Firebirds got scores from Nagel, Williams and Ethan Prescott to cut the deficit to six, but that was the closest the team would get the rest of the way. Free State trailed by eight at the end of the third quarter after a mid-range jump shot by Barrett to gain some momentum back heading to the final period.

That momentum was halted in the closing period as the Blue Jays were able to find efficient offense from its transition game, and kept the Firebirds offense at bay just enough to hand the Firebirds their first loss of the season.

Despite the loss, Paul said that he did see some positives to take away moving forward.

“I thought I saw some fight,” Paul said. “We didn’t quit. We came back, weathered the storm, we knew shots were going to fall eventually when we started playing the right way.”

Both teams will return to action on Dec. 11 in Garden City, competing in the Garden City Roundball Classic.