Overland Park ? Lawrence High’s girls basketball team’s second-half comeback wasn’t enough to earn a victory Thursday night, but it was more than enough to make coach Kristin Mallory excited about the potential of her team.

Overland Park Aquinas, last year’s state runner-up, held on for a 66-43 victory against LHS, but not before the Lions made a lot of noise in the third and fourth quarters.

“I told the girls we can be pleased with that, but we can’t dig ourselves a hole,” Mallory said. “We did that a lot last year.”

The hole ended up being too deep on Thursday. Aquinas held a commanding 45-15 lead at halftime, containing all LHS scorers except junior Josie Polk, who scored the first seven Lions points and nine of her team-high 21 points in the first half.

Where Lawrence (0-1) was flat in the first two quarters, it certainly came out charged in the third. Polk alone scored 10 points — six of them on three-pointers — and the Lions cut a 30-point deficit to just 16 in the eight-minute frame.

“Josie played a great game.” Mallory said. “She really proved tonight that she’s taken her game to the next level. I was very pleased with Josie’s efforts tonight in all parts of her game, not just her scoring.”

For the night, Polk finished 9-of-13 from the field, and sunk one of the two free throws she attempted.

“At first I was a little nervous,” Polk said. “But I got into it. I got two fast breaks in the first half, and I was ready to go.”

In the end, the foul line doomed the Lions. LHS committed 19 total fouls in the game, and the Saints (1-0) sunk 21 of their 27 free throws. Aquinas standout Lauren Wenski, who has signed a letter of intent with Pepperdine, was 9-of-9 from the stripe, and 3-of-5 from three-point land en route to 26 points.

“In the second half, we were doing a better job of denying her the ball,” Mallory said. “Anytime she gets an open look, she’s going to put it down.”

Lawrence likely faced one of the toughest teams it’ll see this year, and Mallory said intimidation might have hindered the Lions in the early going.

“They’re always in the running for the state title, and our girls know that,” Mallory said. “As they took the lead so big, it just became harder and harder. It was like we were running uphill the whole time.”

The Lions return to action Monday at KC Washington.