Topeka ? As tournament draws go, Lawrence High’s girls basketball team couldn’t have had it much easier in round one of the Capital City Classic Thursday evening.

One-loss Lawrence entered the field at Highland Park High with the No. 1 seed and took on one-win Topeka Seaman. The game produced the kind of blowout expected from such a lopsided matchup: a 79-38 demolition of the hapless Vikings.

Scary thing is, it could have been worse. The Lions weren’t particularly sharp defensively in the first two quarters, allowing several offensive rebounds off missed Vikings shots. But then, Lawrence really didn’t have to do much with Seaman scoring 17 first-half points on 30-percent shooting.

“We kind of walked through the first half,” LHS coach Kristin Mallory said, “and just made plays because we were a little more athletic, made plays because we were a little more skilled.

“We didn’t play great. We played OK.”

The cause for the initial letdown was up for debate afterward. Forward Tania Jackson said it may have stemmed from the Lions’ big Saints Classic championship victory against Overland Park Aquinas two days earlier. Mallory said her team could have been looking ahead to winning two tournament titles in one week.

Either way, the opening-round game never was in doubt.

And while most might find it hard to nitpick following a 41-point rout, LHS – for better or worse – already has begun setting its sights on more than just another midseason tournament title for the trophy case.

“That’s one of the main goals for the year is to win three tournaments,” Jackson said, alluding to the state championship. “This is only for our second one.”

Despite the team’s postgame frustrations, it didn’t take long for LHS (10-1) to jump all over the Vikings.

Cassie Potter’s layup 41â2 minutes into the game gave the Lions a 14-4 lead. A Jackson free throw at the 6:12 mark of the second quarter put Lawrence in front 22-12, and the lead remained in double digits from there.

After being named the Saints Classic MVP, senior Danielle Bird picked up where she left off, scoring a game-high 15 points. Jackson also was effective, making all six of her shot attempts and tallying 14 points. Haley Parker and Jasmyn Turner also scored in double figures with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Taylor Bird finished with eight. For the game, The Lions shot 56 percent (30-of-54).

LHS will play No. 4 seed Gardner-Edgerton, 40-38 winners against Manhattan, at 6:45 tonight.

Mallory was quick to point out her team would need to shift its mindset.

“We have to come ready to play every game,” she said. “You don’t walk yourself to the championship game. And we’ve got to take step two before we take step three.”