Lawrence High senior Olivia Lemus leads a fast break after coming up with a steal in the first half of the Lions' 51-44 loss to Olathe South in the quarterfinals of the Class 6A state tournament on Thursday at Wichita State's Charles Koch Arena. Lemus scored nine points after draining three 3-pointers.

Wichita ? For three quarters of Thursday’s Class 6A state tournament quarterfinal match-up against Olathe South at Wichita State’s Koch Arena, the Lawrence High girls basketball team was neck-and-neck with its Sunflower League rival.

The experience of the Falcons — who have appeared in 13 straight state tournaments — proved to be too much for the sixth-seeded Lions, though, as Olathe South upended Lawrence High, 51-44.

“Once they got the ball inside and got that little bit of a lead, they do such a good job of spreading the floor. To their credit, they knocked down free throws,” LHS coach Jeff Dickson said. “I don’t think the final score is going to indicate how close the game really was, but you’ve got to take your hat off.

“That’s one of the premiere, if not the premiere women’s program in the state of Kansas. So there’s no shame in them having them edge you out, but it does give our kids something to look forward to and work for.”

The Lions (18-5) led, 30-29, with 3:31 to play in the third quarter after sophomore Hannah Stewart made one of two from the free-throw line, but the Olathe South front court of DejaNae Roebuck and Lindsey Bartels took over for the final quarter-and-a-half.

Roebuck gave the Falcons the lead on the following possession after Olathe South collected three offensive rebounds. Bartels pushed the Falcons’ lead to four with a traditional 3-point play on Olathe South’s next trip down the floor.

Roebuck finished with a double-double — 17 points and 10 rebounds — while Bartels and Kaitlynn Butaud both tallied 11 points.

Dickson was also impressed with the Falcons’ effort on the defensive end, as they kept LHS junior E’lease Stafford in check until the closing minutes. Stafford scored a team-high 14 points on 3-of-12 shooting from the floor, making 8-of-10 from the charity stripe, but she did not record her first field goal until three seconds left in the third quarter.

“We really couldn’t get her going the way we wanted to,” said Dickson of Stafford. “They did a good job of cutting off some of the looks she would normally get. When we tried to shift the ball to other people, we weren’t finishing inside as well as we needed to.”

While Stafford and a large portion of Lawrence’s varsity squad is expected to return next year, Thursday’s loss to the Falcons capped off the final game in Lady Lions uniforms for seniors Olivia Lemus, Skylar Drum and Madison McKinney. Lemus scored nine points after draining three 3-pointers, Drum finished with four and McKinney — who missed the whole season due to injury — cheered on her teammates from the bench.

“The tragic part of that is that we’ve got the three seniors — Skylar Drum, Olivia Lemus and Madison McKinney — who are the reason why this program got turned around from one that was never winning games in the (Sunflower) League and not doing anything,” Dickson said. “They stuck with it all the way through.”

Although Drum was disappointed that the Lions went one-and-done at their first state tournament since 2008, she was thankful for the opportunity to be a part of the turnaround that Lawrence has had in Dickson’s three years at the helm.

“It’s a great experience,” Drum said. “Not getting here for a long time and then finally getting here, it’s just great.”

Lemus shared my of the same sentiments as Drum, and both seniors considered their teammates as family members. Lemus has full confidence that the Lions will take the next step as a program next year.

“I still believe they can take a state title,” Lemus said. “When they make it to the tournament next year, I’m going to be in the stands when they play in that championship game.”

With the win over the Lions, Olathe South (19-4) advanced to the state semifinals for the second straight season, where they’ll go up against two-seeded Manhattan (22-1).

LAWRENCE (44)

Hannah Stewart 2-6 1-4 5, Olivia Lemus 3-9 0-0 9, Skylar Drum 1-7 2-4 4, Sammy Williams 0-1 0-0 0, Tyrin Cosey 0-0 2-2 2, Asia Goodwin 1-2 0-0 2, E’lease Stafford 3-12 8-10 14, Chisom Ajekwu 4-6 0-1 8. Totals: 14-43 13-21 44.

OLATHE SOUTH (51)

Kaitlynn Butaud 4-12 3-4 11, Makayla Gooch 0-4 4-7 4, Caroline Harshbarger 0-0 0-0 0, Kara Griswold 1-1 0-0 3, DejaNae Roebuck 8-19 1-2 17, Sophie Reed 0-0 0-0 0, Lindsey Bartels 4-9 3-3 11, Danielle Winslow 1-5 2-2 5. Totals: 18-50 13-18 51.

Lawrence 13 11 7 13 — 44

Olathe South 14 8 11 18 — 51

Three-point goals: Lawrence 3-14 (Lemus 3); Olathe South 2-9 (Winslow, Griswold). Fouled out: Danielle Winslow, Olathe South. Turnovers: Lawrence 13, Olathe South 10.