The Free State boys and girls basketball teams returned home on Tuesday night to take on Shawnee Mission Northwest. The Cougars defeated both teams, with the Free State girls losing 56-12 and the boys falling 72-58.

Free State girls struggle early in loss to Cougars

The Firebirds struggled to find an offensive rhythm against the Cougars, shooting 4-for-26 from the field while committing 27 turnovers.

“We talk all the time about our offense feeding off our defense instead of the other way around,” Free State coach Summer Frantz said. “I thought we started to get frustrated when things weren’t going our way offensively and then our defense kind of let up after that.”

Frantz added that it was disappointing to see how many turnovers the Firebirds committed, especially with the improvements she had seen from her team in handling full-court pressure.

The Cougars, on the other hand, were efficient from the beginning, shooting 13-for-24 in the first half and 24-for-51 for the game.

Shawnee Mission Northwest got out to a quick start, showing off good ball movement that resulted in layups and open shots. Free State got an early layup in transition as sophomore Sarai Preston easily broke the press of the Cougars. After the Cougars scored nine straight points, Preston converted another layup to end the quarter with the Cougars up 13-4.

In the second quarter, Shawnee Mission Northwest dictated the pace with its full-court press, forcing 10 turnovers by Free State in the quarter. This resulted in 21 straight points, giving the Cougars a 34-4 advantage at halftime.

Free State left the locker room and built early momentum by making two 3-pointers early in the third quarter. Despite this, Shawnee Mission Northwest continued to get easy looks inside the paint, taking a 50-10 lead at the end of the third quarter.

“We knew that they had a size advantage, but that shouldn’t be anything new for us,” Frantz said. “I thought we got a little fatigued, and we started making catches easier (for them).”

The Cougars closed out the fourth quarter with six more points for a 56-12 win, while the Firebirds were able to add two points at the free throw line.

Boys can’t slow down top-ranked Cougars

The Free State boys continued to play at a high-level offensively, but struggled to slow down defending state champion No. 1 Shawnee Mission Northwest, losing 72-58.

“I thought we did a lot of good things tonight,” Firebird head coach Dwayne Paul said. “The end score doesn’t say we did, but at the same time, I’ve never been a person to base if we played a good game or didn’t play a good game with the end result.”

Free State was paced offensively by senior Korbin Dowdell who scored 30 points to lead all players while shooting 12-for-19 from the field, including four 3-pointers.

“I’m happy for Korbin because a lot of times he’s going to draw the No. 1 (assignment) on people’s scouting report,” Paul said. “I thought his shots were within the flow of our offense, making the easy play.”

After a slow start in which it took over two minutes for either team to score, both squads went back and forth scoring before a free throw by Dowdell and a field goal from freshman Brendan Barrett gave the Firebirds a 10-7 lead.

Shawnee Mission Northwest did not back down, outscoring Free State 12-4 for the remainder of the quarter to go ahead 19-14.

Dowdell opened the second quarter with an easy layup, cutting the deficit back to three points. After a 3-pointer from Connor McFarland made the score 23-19, the Cougars scored six unanswered points to extend the margin to 10.

Shawnee Mission Northwest’s lead reached a high of 16 points, and the Cougars eventually led 39-27 at halftime after a 3-pointer as time expired. Free State’s final eight points of the quarter came from Dowdell, who led all scorers in the first half with 15 points.

The Cougars opened the second half on a 9-3 run to take a game-high 18-point lead. Free State was able to claw its way back to make the score 56-44 at the end of the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, both teams hit shots with Dowdell continuing to serve as Free State’s primary source of offense. The Firebirds could not find enough stops late in the quarter. They got as close as 11 points, but the Cougars held on for the win.

Both the boys and girls basketball teams will finish the regular season on Friday night, hosting Mill Valley. The girls’ game will begin at 5:30 p.m., with the boys’ game to follow.