During the final minute of what looked like it would be the first victory of the season for the Lawrence High girls basketball team, the Lions looked up and could not believe what they saw on the scoreboard.

After leading visiting Shawnee Heights for most of Friday’s game and taking a two-point lead into the final 40 seconds, LHS fell victim to a few mistakes and a couple more bad breaks and dropped to 0-3 after a 45-41 loss at LHS.

“It was all just going so fast,” LHS senior point guard Marissa Pope said of the frantic final minute. “But it was a terrible feeling. We definitely should’ve had that game. I don’t even know what to say.”

LHS led by eight at halftime, maintained an eight-point lead through three quarters but then pulled its foot off the gas pedal and was outscored 15-3 in the final quarter, much of which was spent with the Lions spreading the floor to protect their lead and attempt to drain the clock.

First-year LHS coach Jeff Dickson said the strategy played out just about the way he had hoped. The Lions ran time off the clock and went to the free-throw line with a chance to score easy points. But the points never came, and that left the door open for Shawnee Heights to slide through it.

“That’s an easy strategy to second-guess when it doesn’t work,” Dickson said of the Lions’ delay game. “But we did it because I had a tremendous amount of confidence that our kids would execute, run time off the clock and knock down their free throws. If we make one or two more shots, it’s a different story.”

When they were clicking, the Lions had the upper hand on the Thunderbirds on offense and defense. The Lions’ best friend in the first half was their pressure defense. LHS forced Shawnee Heights into 14 first-half turnovers, nine a result of LHS steals.

Midway through the second quarter, the defensive pressure applied by Pope, Madison McKinney and Talima Harjo in the Thunderbirds’ backcourt proved to be so suffocating that it forced a rare 10-second violation.

Shawnee Heights committed just three second-half turnovers, however, and rode 6-foot-3 sophomore Jazz Sweet and her 27 points to victory.

Her three-point play with 26 seconds remaining gave the T-Birds their first lead of the night (42-41), and Heights connected on three of four free throws down the stretch while the Lions misfired on all three free throws they attempted in the waning seconds.

“She’s a talented kid,” Dickson said of Sweet. “And, to be honest, I thought we did a pretty good job on her overall. It just seemed like we were on borrowed time when we were playing (man-to-man defense).”

Four Lions scored seven or more points, with E’lease Stafford leading the way with a dozen. Devon Spoonhunter chipped in nine points, and Pope and Skylar Drum added seven apiece.

Drum led the Lions with seven rebounds and also picked up two steals and a block. Stafford grabbed six rebounds and Madison McKinney and Matia Finley each recorded five.

Pope paced the Lions with six steals, five of them coming in the first half.

Because its next game — at home against Wyandotte at 7 p.m. Monday night — is just a few days away, LHS will get today off. Both Dickson and Pope said a day away from the gym would help them get past the heartbreak of letting Friday’s game slip away.

“These girls sacrificed all summer and worked so hard,” Dickson said. “I know it was a nice feeling to think they were finally going to get that prize. It’s a cruel thing to have that happen, but the growth potential for our team is going to be phenomenal.”

Pope agreed, even if she didn’t like it.

“We just have to be patient,” she said. “We’ll grow from this one, and as long as we stick together as a team, we’ll be fine.”

Lawrence (41)

Skylar Drum 3-6 1-1 7, Madison McKinney 1-4 0-0 3, E’lease Stafford 4-14 3-8 12, Marissa Pope 3-12 0-0 7, Devon Spoonhunter 4-8 1-5 9, Talima Harjo 0-2 0-0 0, Olivia Lemus 1-3 0-0 3, Alexis Boyd 0-1 0-0 0, Matia Finley 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-50 5-14 41.

Shawnee Heights (45)

Mikala Wells 1-6 0-0 2, Blaize Burges 3-10 1-3 8, Jazz Sweet 10-22 7-12 27, LaRisha Owens 0-2 0-0 0, Lilly Stewart 2-5 2-2 6, Alexis Ramos 0-1 0-0 0, Faith Rottinghaus 1-3 0-0 2, Valerie Golder 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-49 10-17 45.

Shawnee Heights 13 5 12 15 — 45

Lawrence 15 11 12 3 — 41

Three-point goals: Lawrence 4-19 (Stafford, McKinney, Pope, Lemus 1 each); Shawnee Heights 1-10 (Burges). Turnovers: Lawrence 12, Shawnee Heights 17.