There was nothing pretty about the first half of the Lawrence High girls basketball team’s 24-point victory against Leavenworth on Friday night.

The second half more than made up for that.

After stumbling to a two-point halftime lead, LHS (9-9) kicked things into overdrive in the second half, outscoring Leavenworth, 34-12, en route to a 55-31 victory.

While it was tough to determine which aspect of their turnaround was more impressive — offense or defense — junior guard Haley Parker offered a diplomatic answer.

“I thought it was the way our defense created our offense,” Parker said.

After scoring just one point in the first half, Parker scored 10 in the third quarter and opened the frame with three buckets in four trips. LHS senior Taylor Bird — who also scored just one point in the first half but finished with 16 — scored the fourth bucket, and the Lions turned a two-point lead into a 10-point runaway.

“We really just pushed the ball a lot tonight,” said junior Cassie Potter, who scored just four points but added eight rebounds, four assists and three steals. “That’s how we play our best. We’ve been talking all season about how we want to run and tonight we ran.”