Lawrence High boys basketball coach Mike Lewis always talks about the difficulty of winning road games in the Sunflower League.


The Lions certainly had to earn their win at Shawnee Mission South on Friday. The Raiders trailed for the majority of the game, but never faded away. However, LHS made enough shots and free throws in the fourth quarter to pull out a 54-50 victory.


It was the Lions’ return to the court after losing their first game of the season to Wichita East in the Topeka Invitational Tournament championship just under two weeks ago. It may have been tough to sit on that loss for so long afterward, but I got the sense that the Lions turned the page a long time ago and are focused on their games ahead.


“I mean, it’s our first loss. We expected to lose at some point,” junior point guard Justin Roberts said. “Better now than in March. We’ll just try not to lose again going forward.”


Lawrence’s girls basketball team struggled to get any momentum in the first half, falling into a 23-point deficit at halftime. The Lions rallied a little bit in the second half, but never truly threatened in a 57-44 road loss.


The first half has been a problem for the Lions during some games this year, but I thought this was one of the few times that it was because of energy and hustle versus missing shots and turnover problems. LHS coach Jeff Dickson seemed to agree, as he expressed his disappointment afterward.


“We lacked emotion,” Dickson said. “They hit a little run to start the game as the home team often does, and we’ve had some energy issues before, but this time I felt like we had some start hanging their heads a little bit pretty early in the game, and that part was extremely disappointing. I was not expecting that at all from our group.”


In case you missed it, we’re copying one of the popular features of KUsports.com, “Keegan’s Ratings,” where Sports Editor Tom Keegan ranks KU football and men’s basketball players after every game he attends and I’m bringing back the high school ratings for this basketball season. These individual rankings are just one person’s opinion, but it’s a good way to look at how each person impacted each game.

Lawrence High girls basketball

1. Marissa Pope, sr. — With her teammates struggling to find energy in the first half, Pope tried to jumpstart the team by herself with strong play on both sides of the court. She scored a game-high 24 points, her third game this year with 20+ points. What made it more impressive is she picked up her second foul just four minutes into the game. Pope also had four rebounds, two steals and an assist.


2. E’lease Stafford, fr. — After a few slow games, it seems Stafford is starting to find her rhythm again. She scored 11 points, going 6 for 9 at the free throw line. She also had three rebounds and just one turnover.


3. Skylar Drum, so. — Drum just couldn’t get her shot going, going 0 for 3 from the field and missing four free throws. But she still played well on the defensive side of the court, grabbing a team-high seven rebounds and three steals.


4. Asia Goodwin, fr. — The 5-foot-7 freshman stayed on the court for most of the second half because of the energy she contributed on both sides of the ball. She finished with five points, four rebounds and two steals.


5. Gracie Reinsch, jr. — Reinsch provided a lot of energy off of the bench. The result was a couple of loose ball fouls, but she also had two points at the free throw line and three rebounds.


6. Olivia Lemus, so. — Lemus didn’t get any chances to fire away from behind the three-point line, but she finished with one point, two rebounds and a steal.


7. Madison McKinney, so. — The 5-foot-4 sophomore was the first one off of the bench and she scored one point and grabbed three rebounds. McKinney also had one steal.


8. Alexis Boyd, jr. — Boyd did a good job creating space for mid-range jumpers, but couldn’t get her shot to drop, going 0 for 6 from the field. She had one rebound.


9. Emma Bentzinger, jr. — Bentzinger picked up some minutes in the second half, and was aggressive on the defensive end. She didn’t attempt a shot or record any stats.


10. Devon Spoonhunter, jr. — Spoonhunter came off of the bench, but the Raiders did a nice job of denying the ball to her in the low post. She didn’t take any shots, but turned the ball over once.


• Next up: 5:30 p.m. Tuesday vs. SM Northwest. Record: 3-11.

Lawrence High boys basketball

1. Justin Roberts, jr. — Twelve days without a game did nothing to slow down the Lions’ point guard. Roberts scored a game-high 21 points on 7 of 9 shooting. He was driving to the hoop to finish through contact, drilling jumpers and he went 3 for 3 behind the three-point arc. He added three rebounds, two assists and two steals. After hitting a jumper late in the third quarter, he yelled out, “Can’t stop me.” He was right, draining two shots to open the fourth quarter.


2. Anthony Bonner, sr. — After the Raiders did their best to deny him the ball in the first half, Bonner scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half. He also had five rebounds and a steal that led to a dunk. What was Bonner thinking when Roberts caught fire in the first half, while he was being face-guarded?


“It’s relaxing. It’s nice to see him do his thing,” Bonner said. “That’s my boy. It’s just fun and it brings the momentum from everyone else out. We just keep going and feeding off of it.”


3. Price Morgan, jr. — SM South did its best job to crash the glass for second-chance points. But most of the time, Morgan was there to grab a defensive rebound in traffic. He just missed out on a double-double with 13 rebounds and seven points. He added three blocks, sending layup attempts flying out of bounds.


4. Ben Rajewski, sr. — Judging just by the box score, Rajewski had three points, draining a three-pointer midway through the first quarter, two steals, an assist and a rebound. But he did a lot more than that for the Lions. He did the little things on offense and defense, playing great help side defense. On offense, he kept the ball moving and set strong screens to open driving lanes for his teammates.


5. John Barbee, sr. — Barbee didn’t have his best day shooting the ball, scoring six points on 1 of 7 shooting from the field. But he had three rebounds and two assists. He also hit a free throw with 3.4 seconds left to make it a two-possession game and secure the LHS victory.


6. Fred Brou, jr. — Brou scored two points on a nice hook shot in the paint, and he blocked a shot on the defensive end.


7. Anthony Harvey, jr. — The 5-foot-10 junior point guard brought good stability to the court off of the bench with good perimeter defense. He didn’t attempt a shot, but dished an assist to Bonner for a buzzer-beating three-pointer to end the third quarter.


8. Logan Applegate, sr. — Applegate had limited minutes off of the bench and did a good job denying the ball in the low post. He didn’t shoot the ball or record any stats.


• Next up: 7 p.m. Tuesday vs. SM Northwest. Record: 13-1.
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