Olathe ? It makes for a difficult task when a team goes scoreless in the opening quarter, especially when it is going up against the No. 10-ranked team in the state.

Such was the plight Lawrence High’s girls encountered in taking on host Olathe East in the opening round of sub-state play on Wednesday night.

Despite their drought, the Lions closed the gap to seven points at halftime, but they went dormant again in the third quarter, and O-East pulled away for a 51-34 victory.

“We didn’t do ourselves any favors at all in that first quarter (trailing 9-0),” said LHS coach Nick Wood of his team, which closed the season with a 6-15 record. “Defensively we were OK, but offensively we struggled mightily to get much done. We have to be committed for 32 minutes to be mentally tough to compete.”

No. 10-ranked Olathe East (12-9), which had balanced scoring, advances to Friday’s sub-state semifinal. Post player Lauren Kirk led the Hawks with 12 points, and nine Hawks scored.

LHS was led by point guard Marissa Pope, who scored 11 of her game-high 17 points after intermission. Jolona Shield, a 5-foot-7 junior wing, had a trio of three-point hits in the second quarter for all of her nine points.

“Jolona came out in the second quarter and gave us a huge lift,” Wood said, “because we weren’t getting anything done inside.

“They were double- and triple-teaming Kionna (Coleman, who finished with one point).”

Pope, a 5-3 junior, had missed four of the last five games because of a left foot injury.

“That’s what Marissa can do,” Wood said. “She brings an element to our team that a lot of teams don’t have. She has the ability to create offense not only for herself but for the rest of the players.”

Lawrence trailed only 23-16 at halftime. With Shield, a southpaw, leading the way, the slow-starting Lions heated up and outscored East 16-14 in the second quarter.

“That’s the type of kids they are,” Wood said. “They came out in the second quarter and got us right back in the game.”

East outscored LHS 10-5 in the third quarter to take a 33-21 lead entering the final period.

“We didn’t score, and we allowed them get out in transition to get easy buckets,” Wood said.