As far as ideal Saturday mornings go, playing in the seventh-place game at the Firebird Winter Classic had to be about as appealing to Lawrence High’s girls basketball team as some bizarre combination of running suicides while doing homework.

The Lions’ exuberance, however, didn’t match any such nightmarish scenario. LHS rebounded from back-to-back losses at the tournament with a 53-24 thumping of Kansas City, Kan., Sumner Academy.

After seeing his team lose in emotional and potentially devastating fashion Friday — in overtime, against Blue Valley West — Lawrence coach Nick Wood enjoyed the way the Lions responded on a short turn-around. He said their effort was an example of their maturity.

“It’s hard to show up at 10:30 in the morning after a tough loss the night before,” Wood said. “I think it shows a lot of character that they were able to show up with that type of energy and be ready to go.”

Sluggishness was a non-factor for the Lions (5-7) despite the early tipoff. Lawrence raced to a 19-4 advantage after just one quarter, led by sub Bri Anderson’s six points in the opening eight minutes.

Junior Anna Wright contributed five points to the hot start, and sophomore Kionna Coleman scored four points as the Lions established a high-energy approach that kept them rolling throughout the blowout win.

Between Anderson, who finished with a game-high 13 points, and Coleman, who went for 12 points and six boards, scoring inside and Monica Howard and Marissa Pope dishing assists, LHS was rolling.

Coleman said Lawrence wanted to set a positive tone after a disappointing loss less than 24 hours before.

“It got everybody’s blood going,” Coleman said of the first-quarter start, adding the early success was contagious.

By halftime, Anderson and Coleman had combined for 19 of Lawrence’s 30 points, and the Lions had a more-than-comfortable 18-point lead. Wood said the LHS offense was running crisply and creating great, open looks in the paint for the duo.

“The way they were both finishing around the basket, it was huge for us,” the coach said.

Equally important to the Lions’ success against Sumner (4-10) was the overall play of junior Krista Costa. She not only scored eight points, but also secured six rebounds, swiped five steals and passed out two assists. Coleman said Costa was great for LHS — “She was hustling all over the floor,” Coleman said.

Wood, too, praised Costa’s energy and said she played that way in all three tournament games. Her approach, he added, enables her to quickly fill up the stat sheet.

“She does the little things,” Wood said. “It may not be that she scores a lot of points, but she’s flying all over the court getting steals, creating assists. She’s so valuable to us on so many different levels. She finds a way to be productive.”

Lawrence’s team defense couldn’t have been much better. The Lions held the Sabres to 9-for-35 shooting. In both the first and fourth quarters, Sumner made just one field goal.

Coleman said the 29-point victory made up for the previous two losses — almost.

“It felt pretty good,” she said, “but I know we could’ve played better (at the tournament).”

At 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Lawrence will play at Leavenworth.