The Lawrence High bench goes wild during the game against Free State on Thursday, March 5, 2009, at Free State High.

There was no comeback this time.

Unlike in the previous two meetings, when the team that jumped out to the early lead went home with a loss, the Lawrence High girls basketball team roared early and cruised late on the way to a 52-35 victory against Free State in the first round of sub-state Thursday night at FSHS.

“I felt like our kids came in really, really focused,” LHS coach Kristin Mallory said. “And not just for the start. They were focused for all four quarters. Every quarter, every minute, every second.”

That’s no understatement. LHS showed it was a force to be reckoned with early on. After falling behind, 3-0, on a three-point play from Free State’s Chantay Caron, the Lions responded with a 7-0 run. Cassie Potter got things started with a three-pointer — one of seven the Lions hit on the night — and Jordyn Tolefree and Jasmyn Turner added buckets to push the LHS lead to 7-3.

Although the Firebirds hung tough and trailed by just one — 16-15 — at the end of one, FSHS coach Bryan Duncan sensed that something was off.

“In the first quarter, I just had an eerie feeling,” Duncan said. “Even though we were right there, we weren’t defending them well and we were a little stagnant on offense.”

That showed in the second quarter when LHS outscored Free State, 9-4, to open up a six-point halftime lead.

Free State stayed close in the third quarter, still down just five with 3:41 to play in the third, but was buried by the hot hand of Tolefree.

Tolefree shot just 1-for-10 during last Friday’s 47-42 loss to the Firebirds, but her confidence never wavered. Whether that was because of the faith her teammates have in her, her standard Golden Grahams breakfast or the inspirational note left by her older sister — LHS senior Tayler Tolefree, who missed Thursday’s game to be at a volleyball tournament in Indianapolis — everything clicked for the junior on this night.

During a four minute stretch that closed the third quarter and opened the fourth, Tolefree scored 11 straight points for LHS, pushing a 30-25 lead to a 41-27 runaway.

“I was just feeling it,” said Tolefree, who drained back-to-back three-pointers to open the fourth quarter and finished 5-for-6 from the field. “My teammates did a great job of creating for me and I just set my feet and shot it.”

Swish. Bang. Boom.

Fueled by Tolefree’s explosion, the rest of the Lions built a lead of as many as 22 points before milking the final couple of minutes off of the clock.

With 5:48 to play in the fourth, Mallory subbed for Tolefree, who ran off the floor to a rousing ovation from the LHS fans. As she exited, a smile broke across her face.

“I tried to keep my game face on,” Tolefree said. “But it was hard.”

Thursday’s game was a complete reversal of what these teams showed last Friday at LHS. Then, it was Free State who benefited from balanced scoring and role players hitting shots. Thursday, it was Lawrence High. Tolefree led the Lions with 13, Turner added 12, Potter chipped in with 11 and Taylor Bird added eight. Haley Parker, meanwhile, scored six points and dished six assists.

“If we can get complete contributions from everybody, we’ll be tough,” said Mallory, praising her leading scorer (Bird, 17.5 points-per-game) for using her teammates and letting the game come to her.

Caron led Free State (11-10) with 20 points on 8-for-13 shooting. The rest of the team shot just 5-for-23.

Next up, No. 5 seed Lawrence High (10-11) will take on No. 1 seed Shawnee Mission West (17-4) at 7:45 p.m. on Saturday at Free State. The winner will punch its ticket to the Class 6A state tournament in Emporia.