This was the Senior Night sendoff Lawrence High’s Leigh DeBiasse imagined.

DeBiasse capped a Lions’ rally by hitting five of six free throws in the final minute, sealing the Lions’ 59-51 victory Thursday against Leavenworth at Lawrence High. The 5-foot-5 guard never looked nervous, and it showed in her stroke.

“I just try to think of it as any other shot,” DeBiasse said. “Otherwise I put too much into it.”

Having her at the line certainly eased Kristin Mallory’s mind. The LHS coach wouldn’t have had it any other way.

“No. Absolutely not,” Mallory said. “Josie (Polk) is also great at the line, but either one of them will do that.”

The win clinched the No. 3 seed for next week’s Class 6A sub-state tournament, where the Lions (15-5 overall, 7-3 Sunflower League) probably will play Leavenworth again.

If that game is anything like Thursday’s, it will be a classic.

LHS opened with a 13-6 run in the first quarter and looked like it might crush the Pioneers (11-9, 6-4). Leavenworth’s leading scorer, senior Tiffany Brooks, left with her third foul with 2:52 remaining in the quarter, leaving the door open for the Lions.

“We came out on fire,” Mallory said. “Game plan wise we did exactly what we needed to do. First play of the game, Brooks gets an offensive foul, she’s in foul trouble.

Leavenworth's Erin Morrisey, left, attempts to block Lawrence High's Leigh DeBiasse. DeBiasse hit five of six free throws in the final minute of the Lions' 59-51 come-from-behind victory Thursday night at LHS.

“But we didn’t take advantage of that like we should’ve. Their role players stepped up and really took over the game.”

Leavenworth outscored the Lions 14-2 to end the quarter and led by five, 20-15, heading into the second.

Brooks didn’t play at all in the second, but LHS couldn’t whittle into the lead. When Brooks returned in the third, she was rusty, hitting just one of eight field-goal attempts.

Much of that was because of the defense of LHS seniors Audrey Pope and Shari Lassiter, who rarely let Brooks out of their reach. Whenever she did touch the ball, she had one of those two in her face.

“I had to deny her a lot,” Pope said. “She’s pretty strong. She’ll take it right at you, and it’s hard not to reach and take a cheap foul.”

Brooks finished with 18 points, but 10 of them were from the free-throw line.

Lawrence High's Audrey Pope, left, and Leavenworth's Tiffany Brooks fight for a rebound in the Lions' 59-51 victory. Lawrence rallied for the victory Thursday at Lawrence High.

LHS trailed by seven at the start of the fourth quarter, but it was all Lions from there.

Polk, who scored a game-high 23 points, nailed a three-pointer, then junior Cherrale Ricks had a putback, cutting the lead to 42-40, with 6:47 remaining. Junior Rachael Klingler then ripped off back-to-back scoring drives, giving the Lions their first lead since the first quarter.

Mallory praised Klingler’s play after Klingler had been struggling the past few games.

“Rachael was huge tonight,” Mallory said. “It was the Rachael of old.”

When Polk hit her third three-pointer, putting LHS up 52-49, the Lions went into a spread offense, which ate up the nearly the entire last two minutes.

By the time DeBiasse toed the line, the Lions just needed a couple of free throws to hold off Leavenworth. Five was more than enough. When the two teams meet next Thursday, LHS will be ready to make it four straight against the Pioners.

“We did it last year,” DeBiasse said. “It was the exact same thing, except they were the higher seed. They’re gonna be out to get us.”