PRAIRIE VILLAGE — Throughout the season, Lawrence High girls basketball coach Jeff Dickson told senior guard Olivia Lemus that she would have a breakout game.

On Tuesday, it finally arrived.

Lemus, a 5-foot-3 sharpshooter, drilled a 3-pointer in the first minute of the first quarter and she knew she was in rhythm. By the end of the night — a season-high 25 points later — Lemus put on a show for her teammates in a 63-20 road victory over Shawnee Mission East.

Facing 2-3 zone defense for most of the game, Lemus found space in the corners and connected on a staggering seven 3-pointers, which included a buzzer-beating three at the end of the third quarter.

“I was just like, ‘I have to keep shooting. That’s what I need to do. I just have to keep shooting,'” Lemus said after making 9 of 12 shots. “Then I kept hitting them, and I had to keep going.”

Lemus set the tone for the Lions in their most dominant Sunflower League victory of the season. She scored 19 points in the first half, swishing all four of her shots in the first quarter. That included layups on back-to-back possessions.

“She got it going tonight, but we really do sincerely see that all of the time,” Dickson said. “I think she’s one of the best shooters in the state. The only surprise I have is that doesn’t happen more often — but it will.”

With Lemus providing the offense, the rest of the team followed with air-tight defense. The Lions (15-4, 7-3 in Sunflower League) didn’t force many turnovers, but they contested nearly every shot inside of the paint and dominated the battle for rebounding.

How aggressive did the Lions fight for rebounds?

Lawrence sophomore point guard Hannah Stewart, all 5-2 of her, grabbed eight boards.

With 6-3 sophomore center Chisom Ajekwu forced to the bench for most of the first half because foul trouble, sophomore Sammy Williams stepped in her place for eight points and 11 rebounds.

“I just thought we had really good energy,” Dickson said. “For a late season game — you’ve seen in our league a lot of teams have been getting upset — and I thought we showed a lot of maturity coming out really focused in a tough venue on the road.”

In the second half, Lawrence’s coaches challenged their team not to ease off of the gas pedal.

Similar to the first half, Lemus couldn’t miss. She drilled a 3-pointer in the first minute on a pass from Skylar Drum (three points, seven assists). Then Ajekwu made layups on back-to-back possessions. Junior E’lease Stafford added 15 points.

The third-quarter buzzer-beater was Lemus’ final shot after it gave the Lions a 40-point lead and a running clock for the rest of the night.

“It was really great,” Lemus said. “I feel like our confidence is going to go up and it’s going to make teams — not scared to play us, but they’ve got to worry more about us and that’s good.”

LAWRENCE (63)

Hannah Stewart 0-2 0-0 0, Olivia Lemus 9-12 0-0 25, Skylar Drum 0-5 3-4 3, E’lease Stafford 5-15 2-2 15, Chisom Ajekwu 3-6 0-0 6, Sammy Williams 3-4 2-4 8, Tyrin Cosey 0-1 0-0 0, Asia Goodwin 2-5 1-2 6, Leslie Ostronic 0-0 0-0 0, Kiikto Thomas 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-50 8-12 63.

SHAWNEE MISSION EAST (20)

Libby Frye 1-2 0-0 2, Josie Clough 0-5 2-4 2, Kyle Haverty 2-7 0-0 4, Jordan Yowell 2-9 2-5 6, Ema Eberhart 0-0 0-2 0, Sofia Stechschulte 0-4 0-0 0, Toni Englund 0-3 0-0 0, Quincy Bair 0-1 0-0 0, Sophie Barreca 0-1 0-0 0, Tyler Keys 0-1 0-1 0, Kathleen Stanley 2-6 0-0 6, Katie Hise 0-1 0-0 0, Laura Adams 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 7-41 4-12 20.

Lawrence 18 21 16 8 — 63

SM East 3 10 2 5 — 20

Three-point goals: Lawrence 11-24 (Lemus 7, Stafford 3, Goodwin); SM East 2-13 (Stanley 2). Turnovers: Lawrence 9, SM East 10.