Lawrence High’s girls basketball players believe their third-place finish at the Capital City Classic last week was a turning point in their season.

The future looked bright Friday. The Lions played their best game of the season defensively in a 63-27 rout of Shawnee Mission South in the Jungle.

The Lions, who picked up their first Sunflower League win, held the Raiders to just two points in the first seven minutes. Afterward, they led by double-digits for the rest of the way.

“The first half defense was as good as we’ve played all year,” LHS coach Jeff Dickson said. “We weren’t allowing as many second shots. We weren’t putting them on the free-throw line and bailing them out with reaching and grabbing. People were in help position. I thought we did a better job of boxing out.”

The Lions went on a 13-0 run in the first quarter after the Raiders (4-10 overall, 1-4 in Sunflower League) scored on a layup in the first 20 seconds. Sophomore guard E’lease Stafford, who scored a game-high 15 points, highlighted the spurt with a few strong drives to the rim. Sophomore Talima Harjo and junior Olivia Lemus added three-pointers.

Freshman guard Hannah Stewart ended the first quarter with a buzzer-beating three-pointer. Stewart, a steady point guard who is becoming a better scorer, finished with 11 points and three assists.

“I’ve been struggling with my shot,” Stewart said. “I finally made one. I just went shot by shot, making sure I’m getting my feet set and relaxing.”

The Lions (7-7, 1-4) didn’t do anything fancy defensively, but they pressured the ball and closed out on shooters. When the Raiders did reach the paint, freshman 6-foot-3 center Chisom Ajekwu blocked four shots and affected countless others, holding SM South to 13 percent (8-of-63) shooting.

Ajekwu completed a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Harjo added 10 rebounds, and Stafford grabbed nine boards.

“I was super proud of our defense,” Stewart said. “We just came out and played with all of the adrenaline. It was really fun.”

A young team becoming older and wiser each game, the Lions focused on not letting up after taking a 27-13 lead into halftime. The Lions only allowed three points in the final six minutes of the third quarter.

The Lions will travel to SM Northwest at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

“I’m not going to say we’ve arrived at all, but that’s something that we work on all of the time,” Dickson said of the team’s defense. “You start to see, with younger kids, it starts to click in where they need to be.”

SM SOUTH (27)

Elizabeth Holmes 4-10 6-9 15, Karoline Shelton 2-13 2-2 6, Robyn MacDonald 0-10 0-5 0, Madi McAvoy 1-13 0-0 3, Clara Sitas 0-6 1-2 1, Meredith Bunker 0-3 0-0 0, Crimson Barker 0-5 0-0 0, Gabi Green 0-0 0-0 0, Carolyn Schneck 1-2 0-0 2, Rakeya Martin 0-0 0-0 0, Abby Gerber 0-0 0-0 0, Morgan Cossairt 0-0 0-0 0, Lauren Anderson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 8-63 9-18 27.

LAWRENCE (63)

Hannah Stewart 4-6 0-0 11, Olivia Lemus 5-11 0-0 13, Talima Harjo 2-10 0-0 6, E’lease Stafford 6-12 2-2 15, Chisom Ajekwu 5-7 0-4 10, Leslie Ostronic 0-1 2-4 2, Alexis Boyd 1-5 0-0 2, Emma Bentzinger 0-1 0-0 0, Gracie Reinsch 1-3 2-2 4, Sammy Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Tyrin Cosey 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-56 6-12 63.

SM South 3 10 8 6 — 27

Lawrence 16 11 16 20 — 63

Three-point goals: SM South 2-19 (Holmes, McAvoy); Lawrence 9-21 (Stewart 3, Lemus 3, Harjo 2, Stafford). Turnovers: SM South 12, Lawrence 14.