Lawrence High's E'lease Stafford fires a three pointer against Shawnee Mission South Friday.

Overland Park ? During halftime Friday, Lawrence High’s girls basketball players made a realization when they were sitting in the locker room.

If the Lions wanted to be considered one of the top teams in the state, they couldn’t allow opponents to stick around.

LHS junior E’lease Stafford opened the second half with six straight points and it sparked the Lions in a 58-43 road victory over Shawnee Mission South.

“We realized that we need to stop playing with our food,” LHS senior guard Skylar Drum said. “We have a bad habit of doing that in some of the other games.”

Instead of settling for jump shots, the Lions attacked the rim. Stafford started the third quarter with a 3-pointer, assisted from Drum. Then the 5-foot-11 Stafford drove to the rim and scored on a layup while being fouled.

“We realized we needed to stop messing around,” senior guard Oliva Lemus said.

On the next two possessions, junior Asia Goodwin was fouled when she went full-speed toward to the hoop. In the first four minutes of the second half, the Lions went on a 12-2 run for a double-digit lead.

“We believe that we are state champions,” said Lemus, who had 11 points and eight rebounds. “State champions go out and finish games and that’s what we wanted to do. Personally, I think me and Skylar were thinking, ‘We’re seniors, this is one of our last games. We need to take as many (wins) as we can.'”

Defensively, the Lions trusted their centers Chisom Ajekwu (6-foot-3) and Sammy Williams (5-10). Guards pressured the ball and if they allowed drives down the paint, Ajekwu and Williams were ready for volleyball-spike blocks.

The Raiders (4-10, 1-4 in Sunflower League) shot 20 percent from the floor, scoring most of their points through offensive rebounds.

“I mean, if I was on the other team, it would be hard to get to the basket when they are under there,” said Drum, who posted 10 points and six rebounds. “We should’ve boxed out better but we did good anyway.”

The Lions (11-3, 3-2) went scoreless for a five-minute gap in the second quarter, which helped the Raiders close their deficit to one point.

But sophomore point guard Hannah Stewart and Lemus combined to score seven points in the final two minutes.

Then once Stafford started the second half with a 6-0 run, the Lions never looked back. Stafford led the Lions with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting with five rebounds.

“It’s pretty obvious that she’s the catalyst of our entire offense,” Dickson said of Stafford. “As she goes, we go. I can’t think of a game that we’ve ever lost where she played well on offense. So we’ve won a lot of games because she’s usually pretty good.”

LAWRENCE (58)

Hannah Stewart 2-5 2-2 6, Olivia Lemus 4-15 0-0 11, Skylar Drum 2-4 5-6 10, E’lease Stafford 6-10 1-1 16, Chisom Ajekwu 2-5 0-0 4, Tyrin Cosey 1-3 1-2 3, Asia Goodwin 1-2 5-8 7, Sammy Williams 0-1 0-1 0, Tamo Thomas 0-0 0-0 0, Leslie Ostronic 0-2 1-2 1, Talima Harjo 0-0 0-0 0, Kiikto Thomas 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-47 16-23 58.

SHAWNEE MISSION SOUTH (43)

Meredith Bunker 0-10 0-0 0, Karoline Shelton 1-16 2-4 4, Robyn MacDonald 8-15 0-2 16, Madi McAvoy 4-14 4-4 14, Crimson Barker 2-11 4-4 8, Gabi Green 0-6 1-2 1, Lauren Anderson 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 15-75 11-16 43.

Lawrence 16 8 18 16 — 58

SM South 11 10 8 14 — 43

Three-point goals: Lawrence 6-18 (Lemus 3, Stafford 3); SM South 2-25 (McAvoy 2). Fouled out: Ajekwu, Shelton. Turnovers: Lawrence 17, SM South 13.