Girls basketball  defeated Lawrence Free State 54-42 at home on Friday, Dec. 9.

According to sophomore Presley Barton, the team was confident about its ability to win the game.

“We watched film and then we went over the other teams plays and went over our plays,” Barton said. “We were pretty confident we knew a lot about the team and we thought we would do well.”

According to head coach Drew Walters, the team knew Free State had quality offense, and was something they had to prepare for defensively.

“We [worked on things] we’ve seen in the last games that we thought were going well for us and tried to fix mistakes and also doing some scouting,” Walters said. “Just preparing defensively for what they were going to do and play and deciding our matchups.”

At the end of first quarter the score was 13-11, Free State. According to Walters, this was due to successful shooting by Free State.

“[Free State] can really shoot the ball. They showed that early and then we kind of dug down and played some better defense,” Walters said. “They’ve got some really nice players who can do a lot of things.”

By halftime, the Lady Jags were leading 30-24, and after that, they never lost their lead.

According to senior Elena Artis, the team put in a lot of effort.

“Free State had a lot of great shooters so we had to learn how to guard them outside their pick and roll,” Artis said. “Everyone had given us a great effort tonight. We came out with a [win] which is always a great thing.”

Going forward, Walters says the team needs to keep looking forward and preparing for the next game.

“We’ve got to enjoy the win, but tomorrow is the next step in the process,” Walters said. “We’ll probably work a little bit more on us and then Tuesday and Wednesday work on preparing for [Shawnee Mission East], then line up and play it.”

The Lady Jags play Shawnee Mission East next at home on Thursday, Dec. 15.

Gallery • 28 Photos

By Morgan Gurwell

Arm to arm with her opponent, senior Elena Artis fights for the ball.