Topeka — After a momentum-boosting 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter in its second game of the Capital City Classic, the Free State girls basketball team looked to be in prime position to close out a win.

Unfortunately for the Firebirds, a fourth-quarter flurry halted their relentless performance, as they fell to Shawnee Mission West, 32-31 on Friday afternoon at Topeka West High School.

Free State held the lead for most of the game, and the Firebirds showed clear evidence of the strides they have made during the season since an earlier loss to the Vikings.

“We just talked in the locker room about how proud we are of them,” Free State coach Summer Frantz said. “We played them back on Dec. 20 and we hung with them for a while. We responded to all their runs tonight, we just ran out of time there at the end.”

Frantz said that before the game, she wanted her team to play with a mindset of keeping the Vikings around 30 points in order to win, which the Firebirds were able to accomplish.

The Firebirds took an early lead on a step-through layup from sophomore Sarai Preston before the Vikings responded with a 3-pointer. The Firebirds scored two 3-pointers, from junior Addie Fulscher and Chloe Clossen, to force an early timeout.

Fulscher extended the lead out of the timeout with a mid-range jumper before Shawnee Mission West cut its deficit back to five. The two teams traded one more basket apiece to send Free State to the second quarter with a 12-7 advantage.

Defense was the theme of the first half, but especially in the second quarter. It took two minutes and 20 seconds off the clock before the first points of the quarter, and three more minutes before Free State responded with another step-through layup by Preston.

With the Vikings in foul trouble, the Firebirds were able to take advantage, getting to the free-throw line to extend their lead to a first-half-high nine points. The Vikings reduced it to four with a 5-0 run before Preston made two free throws with 3.5 seconds left to give Free State a 20-14 halftime lead.

In a back-and-forth third quarter,. Free State used a late mid-range shot from sophomore Peyton Moore and a buzzer-beating 3 by Fulscher to take a 31-23 lead into the final eight minutes.

“That was huge,” Frantz said. “That’s just what Addie does, and she just always makes plays to pick her teammates up and give her teammates energy.”

Fulscher led the Firebirds in scoring with 13 points. Shawnee Mission West’s Kate Van Deventer led all scorers with 17 points, including five of her team’s nine in the fourth quarter.

Shawnee Mission West slowly began to chip away at the lead, eventually claiming a 32-31 advantage. With two minutes to play, the Vikings were content to play stall ball in the absence of a shot clock. Free State got chances late in the game but could not convert, as Clossen’s 3-point attempt to take the lead with four seconds remaining fell short, completing the Shawnee Mission West comeback.

Free State will play at 10 a.m. tomorrow against the loser between Highland Park and Blue Valley High School in the seventh-place game.

Given the early start, Frantz challenged her team in the locker room, asking who will bring the most energy and to whom it matters most, as the Firebirds hope to end the tournament with a win.