After coaching his first game at Lawrence High on Friday, Jeff Dickson was about as happy as he could be following the girls basketball team’s 59-48 loss to Emporia.

The Lions trailed by as many as 17 points after the Spartans went on a 12-0 run midway through the second quarter, while LHS missed five shots and turned the ball over twice.

But in the second half, the Lions cut the lead to 10 in the third quarter behind points from senior point guard Marissa Pope, who finished with a game-high 25, freshman guard Talima Harjo and freshman wing E’lease Stafford.

Emporia (1-0) wouldn’t let them get any closer by scoring on its final three possessions of the third quarter, but the way the Lions fought back wasn’t lost on Dickson.

“I thought our kids played hard. I thought they stayed positive,” Dickson said. “I thought they really battled. I’m proud of them. I think coming in, we knew it was going to be a process, and there’s a lot of things that we need to do better. But the kids have really bought in to what we’re trying to do.”

Pope, a pass-first point guard for the Lions for the past three seasons, has turned into the team’s best offensive weapon. She’s heard all offseason long from Dickson about stepping into a scorer’s role, and she attacked the basket for 12 points in the fourth quarter, slashing past defenders. She also hit two three-pointers in the game when her defender backed off and gave her space behind the arc.

“I’m a true point guard, so I’ll take an assist over scoring any day,” Pope said. “But it was a nice change.”

The Lions (0-1) don’t have many returners from last year’s rotation, but the freshmen and sophomores never looked overwhelmed in their varsity debut.

Stafford scored nine points and added three rebounds, showing poise on the wing, while Harjo couldn’t get her shots to fall but grabbed a team-high eight rebounds with her 5-foot-5 frame.

“I was really proud of our freshmen,” Pope said. “They handled themselves really well, especially E’lease and Talima. They were composed more than I thought they would be, so I was impressed.”

The Lions will play host to Blue Valley Southwest at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

LAWRENCE (48)

Skylar Drum 1-6 0-0 2, Madison McKinney 1-6 0-1 2, E’lease Stafford 2-6 4-4 9, Marissa Pope 8-14 7-7 25, Alexis Boyd 1-9 2-4 4, Devon Spoonhunter 1-3 0-0 2, Talima Harjo 2-5 0-0 4. Totals 16-49 13-16 48.

EMPORIA (59)

Taylor Birch 3-9 3-4 11, Raegan Sanchez 3-9 3-4 9, Kelsey Gordon 4-5 1-2 9, Whitney Wilhite 4-9 4-6 14, Braxtyn Stewart 5-8 0-0 13, Kim Raygoza 1-3 0-0 3. Totals 20-52 11-16 59.

Emporia 14 17 15 13 — 59

Lawrence 10 8 12 18 — 48

Three-point goals: Lawrence 3-13 (Pope 2, Stafford); Emporia 8-21 (Stewart 3, Wilhite 2, Birch 2, Raygoza). Fouled out: McKinney. Turnovers: Lawrence 13, Emporia 13.