Alexis Boyd (42) and the Lions bench cheer the squad on the floor in the closing minutes as Lawrence girls defeated Olathe North Friday.

Olathe ? Winless in the Sunflower League entering this week, Lawrence High’s girls basketball team now has back-to-back road victories in the league following the Lions’ 52-43 Friday night triumph at Olathe North.

It’s hard to believe, but this is the same LHS team that owned a 1-9 record just three weeks ago.

“These kids didn’t hang their heads and give up,” first-year coach Jeff Dickson said of his 5-13 Lions, adding things are turning in the right direction.

Lawrence opened January by scoring 20 points the entire game against Leavenworth, but the road team reached that number in the second quarter alone against the Eagles. The Lions made eight of their 12 shots in the quarter, setting up a comfortable 33-17 halftime advantage.

“The kids played really well,” Dickson said of the crucial stretch. “We hit a lot of shots, and we feel like we have some good shooters. I thought we did a really good job of sharing the ball and breaking down their defense and hitting the open player.”

Starting freshman forward E’lease Stafford hit a three-pointer and a turn-around jumper off a post-up in the second, and post players junior Alexis Boyd and senior Matia Finley each made a jumper. But the Lions got 10 more points off the bench in that stretch, with senior forward Rebecca Finley converting a layup off of one of senior point guard Marissa Pope’s four assists in the quarter and sophomore guard Madison McKinney scoring eight points.

“That little flurry there was big for us,” Dickson said. “We’ve shown the ability to do that. What I was most proud of was the number of different people to hit shots and the way they just stepped up and shot it with confidence.”

Added Boyd, who finished with seven points: “We were pretty hyped. We were glad that everyone was flowing together the way we should be playing, and we ended up doing some good things.”

McKinney’s outburst highlighted the run, as she shot 3-for-4, with a pair of three-pointers, in a span of less than three minutes.

“I think good things happen to good people,” Dickson said of McKinney, who banked in one of her threes. “She’s been a little banged up, she works her tail off every single day, she is one of the best kids we have as a teammate, and it seems like lately every single game she has hit a three. And then tonight she got going a little bit and knocked down a couple of shots. It just provided a huge boost.”

Sophomore guard Olivia Lemus drained two three-pointers in the first quarter, and Matia grabbed five of her team-leading 10 rebounds in the first eight minutes.

Pope led the Lions with 10 points and five assists and had plenty to do with LHS committing only two first-half turnovers and 11 total (three came in the final minute after Dickson emptied the bench).

“We wanted this game,” Boyd said. “We wanted to come out and kick some butt from the start. That’s what we did. We carried through and didn’t play just one good half, but two good halves.”

LAWRENCE (52)

Olivia Lemus 2-4 0-2 6, E’lease Stafford 2-8 2-2 7, Marissa Pope 2-8 5-10 10, Matia Finley 3-4 1-2 7, Alexis Boyd 3-4 1-2 7, Skylar Drum 0-1 1-2 1, Rebecca Finley 1-1 0-0 2, Madison McKinney 3-4 0-0 8, Asia Goodwin 0-0 1-4 1, Brook Sumonja 1-1 1-2 3. Totals 17-40 12-26 52.

OLATHE NORTH (43)

Amelia Ludlow 3-6 0-0 6, Sabrina Prendes 4-6 1-2 9, Tenesha Sharp 2-5 3-4 8, Sofia Prendes 0-3 2-2 2, Brittni Roth 0-0 0-0 0, Adak Maker 1-8 0-0 3, Taylor Brown 2-5 0-0 5, Lexy Watts 1-4 0-0 2, Tiffany Larson 0-1 0-0 0, Brooklyn Anderson 4-7 0-0 8. Totals 17-45 6-8 43.

Lawrence 13 20 7 12 — 52

O-North 8 9 9 17 — 43

Three-point goals: LHS 6-15 (Lemus 2, McKinney 2, Pope); O-North 3-11 (Sharp, Maker, Brown). Turnovers: LHS 11, O-North 19.