The Lawrence High girls basketball team executed aggressively and masterfully to draw Shawnee Mission West star Kenzie Loe into foul trouble and did more of the same to take advantage of her absence.

But once Loe returned to stay, she showed why she was targeted for foul trouble and led her team to a 58-56 overtime victory against the Lions on Tuesday in the Jungle.

LHS showed its youth in trying to close out the Vikings at the end of regulation and in the overtime period by rushing shots when patience was the right play and at other times passing up shots that were there for the taking. In the end, the Lions (4-5) couldn’t stop Loe, who scored a game-high 27 points on an assortment of perimeter jumpers, short bank shots and swished free throws.

“She’s tough,” LHS coach Jeff Dickson said. “She’s hard to guard.”

The Vikings (4-4) scored the final five points of regulation and outscored LHS, 7-3, in the final stretch of overtime.

For LHS, sophomore E’lease Stafford (26 points) and freshman Chisom Ajekwu (nine points, four blocked shots) showed why it’s easy to be bullish on the future of the Lions’ program. Junior Olivia Lemus opened the game on fire, scoring 10 of her 14 points in the first quarter on a night she buried a trio of three-pointers.

With Lemus and Stafford leading the way, LHS stormed to a 24-13 lead early in the second quarter, at which point Loe went to work, scoring nine second-quarter points.

Lemus drew Loe’s third foul midway through the third quarter, and Alexis Boyd drew her fourth, forcing Loe to sit the final 34 seconds of the third quarter and the first 3:05 of the fourth.

Showing the savvy of an upperclassman, Ajekwu scored six fourth-quarter points. Posting up on the block, Ajekwu nodded her head twice, letting Skylar Drum know to feed her the ball. Ajekwu caught the pass and banked in a shot that put LHS up 49-44. The Lions did a good job of both forcing turnovers and committing them for the remainder of regulation, and West’s Addie Arner buried a three from the left corner to force overtime.

“We did a lot of great things tonight,” Dickson said. “It’s a very frustrating way to end the game, but Chisom’s got a chance to be a special player. And the more confidence she gets, I think she’s going to be unstoppable.”

The rough finish gave Dickson plenty of teaching material to work with before the Lions resume their schedule Friday at home against Olathe South.

“Maybe that’s one of those things we have to go through, drop a game like this, to take that next step, which I think we’re going to take this year,” Dickson said.

SHAWNEE MISSION WEST (58)

Addie Arner 1 3-3 6, Jheda Kennedy 3 0-2 7, Emma Beason 3 0-2 7, Emma Van Denselaar 2 2-3 6, Kenzie Loe 9 7-12 27, Elena Artis 4 1-2 9, Ayianna Uhde 1 0-0 3. Totals 20 13-22 58.

LAWRENCE HIGH (56)

Hannah Stewart 0 1-5 1, Olivia Lemus 5 1-2 14, Skylar Drum 1 0-0 2, E’lease Stafford 10 4-5 26, Chisom Ajekwu 4 1-5 9, Alexis Boyd 0 2-2 2, Emma Bentzinger 0 0-0 0, Talima Harjo 0 0-0 0, Leslie Ostronic 1 0-0 2, Gracie Reinsch 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 9-19 56.

SM West 13 15 11 10 9 — 58

Lawrence 19 12 9 9 7 — 56

Three-point goals: SM-West 3 (Arner, Beason, Uhde). LHS 5 (Lemus 3, Stafford 2).