Lawrence High junior E'lease Stafford (40) celebrates a layup-and-the-foul bucket in the fourth quarter of the City Showdown on Friday, Dec. 16, 2016 at Allen Fieldhouse

When Lawrence High junior Talima Harjo’s baseline 3-pointer fell through the bottom of the net, the LHS students erupted the south side of Allen Fieldhouse with a chorus of cheers.

Harjo’s trey in the closing seconds of the third period was her only bucket of the night, but it was perhaps the biggest. It gave Lawrence it’s first lead of the evening before clinching a 47-42 victory over Free State, in the latest installment of the City Showdown.

But this edition of the historic rivalry had a little bit of extra juice to it. It was the first such meeting to take place in the mecca of college basketball for the two Lawrence schools.

“It’s not what I thought it would be, it was even more,” LHS coach Jeff Dickson said. “The thing we told our kids afterwards, ‘There will never be another time that you have that kind of atmosphere and to have the kids that close to the court.'”

And it lived up to the hype.

The Firebirds (2-2, No. 9 in Class 6A) stormed out to an early lead, 16-8, in the first period courtesy of barrage of 3-pointers. FSHS hit four of its first eight attempts from downtown, via Jaycie Bishop, Madison Piper and a pair by Jaelyn Two Hearts.

“We knew coming in we were going to be outsized,” FSHS coach Ted Juneau said. “(We) had to try to do some things, try to get back-side help, try to swarm inside. I thought we did a pretty good job of that.”

It wasn’t until the Lions (5-0, No. 5 in Class 6A) switched to a matchup zone defense in the second half that the game script began to switch. Free State was held to three points in the third quarter — on one long range shot — before ending the night 10-of-33 from beyond the arc. Piper, a Santa Clara commit, saw a lot of box-and-one as well, as she was held to 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting. Two Hearts added 15 on five shots from downtown.

In fact, the Firebirds did not hit a single basket inside the three-point line the entire second half due to the Lions’ swarming zone defense.

“We actually worked on it yesterday for like two minutes,” Lawrence junior E’lease Stafford said. “When we did it yesterday in practice it worked great, but we figured we would go man at first.”

Meanwhile, LHS was able to get its offense rolling, by focusing more on the interior with the help of sophomore Chisom Ajekwu and Stafford, both who added 21 and 16, respectively.

Following a long range shot by Two Hearts (15 points) early in the second half, the Lions went on a 14-0 run, which included three straight baskets by Ajekwu. Harjo later hit the decisive jumper from the left baseline.

“I think we have two of the better players in the state that score in the post,” Dickson said. “When the other team is hitting threes, you have that natural tendency to jack those up yourself. We try to get them to understand that’s not really our game.”

Both teams will return to action following the break on Jan. 3.

LAWRENCE (47)

Hannah Stewart 0-1 0-0 0, Olivia Lemus 0-1 0-0 0, Skylar Drum 0-3 0-0 0, Talima Harjo 1-2 2-2 5, Tamo Thomas 2-6 0-0 5, E’lease Stafford 6-17 6-11 21, Chisom Ajekwu 7-10 2-5 16, Tyrin Cosey 0-0 0-0 0, Sammy Williams 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 16-40 10-18 47.

FREE STATE (42)

Sam Lawrence 0-2 0-0 0, Cameryn Thomas 0-7 0-0 0, Jaycie Bishop 3-8 0-0 8, Caely Kesten 2-8 0-0 4, Madison Piper 5-16 2-2 15, Haley Hippe 0-0 0-0 0, Jaelyn Two Hearts 5-13 0-0 15, Erin Cushing 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 15-45 2-2 42.

Lawrence 8 11 14 14 — 47

Free State 16 9 3 12 — 42

Three-point goals: Lawrence 5-14 (Stafford 3, Harjo, Thomas); Free State 10-33 (Two Hearts 5, Piper 3, Bishop 2). Fouled out: Cameryn Thomas. Turnovers: Lawrence 12, Free State 12.