LHS junior Talima Harjo (13) and freshman Chisom Ajekwu (45) fight for a rebound against Leavenworth's Jordan Counts (4) and Alicia Brown (13) on Tuesday.

Leavenworth ? Playing in their first game in 18 days, Lawrence High girls basketball players didn’t have any chance to ease back onto the court.

Against Leavenworth, the two-time Class 5A defending state champions, the Lions had problems setting up their offense against a quick and physical full-court press. The Pioneers hounded the ball and jumped passing lanes.

The Lions tried to fight back with their defense but couldn’t keep up in a 53-32 loss at Leavenworth. LHS committed 27 turnovers, including 14 in the first quarter.

“We let their defensive pressure get to us and rattle us a bit,” Lawrence coach Jeff Dickson said. “We need to do a better job of handling physical pressure and mental pressure.”

With a lineup full of young guards — freshmen Hannah Stewart and Leslie Ostronic, sophomores E’lease Stafford and Talima Harjo and junior Olivia Lemus — the Lions played too fast to avoid bad passes or falling into traps along the sidelines.

“They are going to bump you and hold you and hand-check you and you have to be physically and mentally tough to handle that type of pressure,” Dickson said. “They speed you up to an uncomfortable pace that leads to you playing too fast and making mistakes. You have to attack it with confidence.”

Despite all of the problems against the press defense, the Lions (4-3) only trailed by five points in the second quarter following a three-pointer from Lemus, assisted by Ostronic. Lemus scored a team-high 10 points.

But the Pioneers (5-1, ranked No. 2 in 5A) responded with a 23-4 run over the next 11 minutes between the second and third quarters. Leavenworth junior Zoie Hayward and senior Alicia Brown both scored a game-high 14 points.

In the third quarter, the Lions missed their first 12 shots and fell into a 39-15 deficit before Harjo hit a three-pointer off an inbounds pass from Bentzinger.

Once the Pioneers pulled off their press in the fourth quarter and put in some backups, the Lions found an offensive rhythm. Freshman forward Chisom Ajekwu scored five of her seven points in the final period, nearly completing a double-double with 13 rebounds.

The Lions will go on the road to play Olathe South (ranked No. 2 in 6A) at 5:30 p.m. Friday.

LAWRENCE (32)

Hannah Stewart 1-7 0-0 3, Olivia Lemus 3-6 1-3 10, Talima Harjo 2-8 0-0 5, E’lease Stafford 1-5 1-3 3, Chisom Ajekwu 3-10 1-6 7, Alexis Boyd 2-5 0-0 4, Emma Bentzinger 0-3 0-0 0, Leslie Ostronic 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 12-44 3-12 32.

LEAVENWORTH (53)

Remi Wilkerson 1-2 0-0 2, Terrion Moore 0-1 0-0 0, Zoie Hayward 4-9 2-2 14, Alicia Brown 7-12 0-0 14, Destinee Brown 2-6 0-0 4, Aarika Lister 3-10 4-5 10, Skylar Young 2-4 2-2 6, Jordan Counts 1-3 0-0 2, Alexis Cole 0-1 1-2 1, Alyche Brown 0-3 0-0 0, Cierra Robinson 0-0 0-0 0, Mckenzie Brown 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-51 9-11 53.

Lawrence 8 7 3 14–32

Leavenworth 16 12 13 12–53

Three-point goals: Lawrence 5-12 (Lemus 3, Stewart, Harjo); Leavenworth 4-15 (Hayward 4). Turnovers: Lawrence 27, Leavenworth 16.