Lawrence High sophomore Skylar Drum (3) gets pressured by Wichita Northwest's Cori Carson (23) in the Firebird Winter Classic.

Lawrence High’s girls basketball players saw their lead against Wichita Northwest slipping away early in the fourth quarter on Friday.

But the Lions didn’t panic. They weren’t going to let a win slip away.

LHS responded by scoring on eight straight possessions to pull away for a 45-31 victory at Free State High, snapping a six-game losing streak.

After trailing by as much as 12 points in the third quarter, the Grizzlies cut the score to 27-23 in the first minute of the fourth quarter with a three-pointer by freshman Lucy Hertner.

Two possessions later, LHS junior forward Alexis Boyd hit a baseline jumper, which started a decisive 16-2 run. Boyd scored four more points in the stretch on layups, while senior point guard Marissa Pope scored six points with drives to the rim and once on a pump-fake, two-dribble pull-up jumper.

Sophomore guard Skylar Drum, senior foward Matia Finley and freshman wing E’lease Stafford also added two points each in the fourth quarter, when the Lions outscored Northwest, 18-11.

“We just saw that we had the win, and we really just wanted to step on their throats and just finish it,” said Pope, who scored a game-high 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting.

“Alexis Boyd hit that big jumper which was critical, which kind of got it rolling for us,” LHS coach Jeff Dickson added. “Then, of course, Marissa Pope just kind of took over from there. She really led the team well.”

After a slow start in Thursday’s first-round game, the Lions (2-9) played tough defense and jumped to a 19-11 lead at halftime. The Grizzlies made just 3 of 21 shots in the first half.

“We had a different mentality,” said Boyd, who finished with 12 points and six rebounds. “We came out ready to play. We knew exactly what we had to do. Everybody was doing the little things to make us all play together as a team.”

The Lions took the lead midway through first quarter with baskets on four straight possessions. Junior Devon Spoonhunter made a layup, Boyd made two baskets, including a layup-and-the-foul, and Pope drilled a triple.

“I thought we came out with a little more fire, a little more energy,” Dickson said. “I thought it was good energy from our kids and a good rebound from the way things went last night. I felt pretty good about it. I know we can play a lot better, though.”

The Grizzlies (3-9) went on a 7-0 run to end the third quarter, as the Lions missed their last five shots and added a pair of turnovers.

But once the Lions started scoring in the fourth quarter, LHS began to force turnovers and hold Northwest to deep three-point attempts.

“It’s really big,” Boyd said of the win. “I feel like we’ve worked our butts off. We really deserve that. We came out and got what we deserved.”

The Lions will return to the court at 10:30 a.m. today to play Highland Park in the fifth-place game.

LAWRENCE (45)

Olivia Lemus 1-7 0-1 3, Skylar Drum 1-4 2-2 5, Marissa Pope 6-8 5-6 19, Matia Finley 1-1 0-0 2, Alexis Boyd 6-9 0-5 12, Devon Spoonhunter 1-1 0-0 2, Gracie Reinsch 0-3 0-0 0, E’lease Stafford 1-4 0-0 2, Madison McKinney 0-0 0-1 0, Rebecca Finley 0-0 0-0 0, Asia Goodwin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-37 7-14 45.

WICHITA NORTHWEST (31)

Isabella Soliz 1-1 1-2 4, Naria Hall 3-8 3-9 9, Cori Carson 1-8 0-2 2, Alex Jennings 0-2 0-0 0, Haley Cooper 1-8 0-1 2, Lucy Herter 2-5 0-2 5, Madison Surmeier 3-7 0-0 9, Deja Arnold 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 11-39 4-16 31.

Northwest 4 7 9 11 — 31

Lawrence 9 10 8 18 — 45

Three-point field goals: Lawrence 4-13 (Pope 2, Lemus, Drum); Wichita NW 5-14 (Surmeier 3, Soliz, Herter). Turnovers: Lawrence 8, Wichita NW 10.