Overland Park ? Lawrence High’s girls basketball team downed Junction City, 50-40, on Thursday night in the first-round of the St. Thomas Aquinas Lady Saints basketball tournament.

Tania Jackson and Danielle Bird scored 12 points apiece, and Taylor Bird added 10 for the Lions (2-0).

Lawrence will meet Belleview (Neb.) West in the semifinals at 8:15 p.m. tonight. The winner will advance to Saturday’s championship tilt.

“It’s the best game I’ve seen Tania Jackson play in a Lion uniform,” LHS coach Kristin Mallory said. “She took the ball to the basket strong, had two blocks, seven or eight rebounds. She set the tone early. Everybody was into the game.”

Junction City went 22-1 a year ago and entered the 2007 season ranked in the top 10.

“We built a good lead in the second quarter (30-19). We had a little containment press and Jasmyn (Turner) probably had three steals in a row,” Mallory said.

“Our guards made good decisions late in the game. We are hard to press. We were able to throw over the top and kill the clock.

“Junction City was a tough first-round matchup for us,” she added. “It’s nice to see our young kids step up to the challenge. That’s one of the better teams we’ll play. We didn’t play a perfect game. There were a lot of exciting plays.”

Lawrence 50, Junction City 40

Junction City: Hoover 10, King 2, E. Testa 10, K. Kamm 2, M. Clark 2, McKenzie 6, Smith 8.

Lawrence HIgh: Danielle Bird 12, Taylor Bird 10, Jasmyn Turner 6, Cassie Potter 4, Hayley Parker 6, Tania Jackson 12.