photo by: Shane Jackson

Lawrence High's Amaya Marshall looks to make a move past an FL Schlagle defender during a game in the Lady Firebirds Winter Classic on Friday at FSHS on Jan. 31, 2020.

Lawrence High sophomore Amaya Marshall didn’t have any expectations about her first game back. She was just happy to be on the floor after her freshman season was cut short in late February.

In her first game in over nine months, Marshall led the LHS girls basketball team to its first win of the season. She scored a game-high 18 points in Lawrence’s 42-31 win over Junction City Thursday night at LHS. The Lions are now 1-2 on the season.

“Being back was great, it’s been a long time coming,” Marshall said. “I didn’t really know what to expect. I was just trying to come in and have an open mind and come in and play.”

Marshall originally sustained her season-ending ACL injury on Feb. 27, which abruptly ended a promising freshman campaign. She then had her surgery exactly one month later on March 27.

While Marshall was able to do some basketball activities over the past several months, she was only cleared recently to play a competitive game.

The 5-foot-4 guard was thrust back into the starting role against Junction City, joining a rotation that included sophomore Hailey Ramirez, junior Layla Harjo, sophomore Serenity Keo and freshman Azura Clark.

“I was just so happy to be back,” Marshall said. “I knew no matter what happened, I was going to have fun. That was the one thing I had on my mind was just to have fun.”

Marshall made the most of her return, as she was the only player on either team to finish in double figures. Marshall went 4-for-14 from the floor on the night, scoring half of her points during a pivotal third quarter.

“I’ve never seen anybody work as hard as she has to get back,” LHS head coach Jeff Dickson said. “She was in her element. It is hard not to get a little choked up when you see her out there. Of course, you can’t see her smiling (with the mask), but you see her eyes and know she’s smiling. She’s just a tremendous leader for us.”

It was almost like Marshall never even left. Even though she was only supposed to play around 20 minutes, Marshall made the most of her time on the court. She made strong plays on both ends of the floor.

Marshall’s first points of the night came at the free-throw line at the 6:10 mark in the first quarter. She ended the opening period with a 3-pointer in the closing seconds to give Lawrence a 13-11 advantage early on.

In the second half, Marshall got into a rhythm. She hit a baseline jumper at the 2:35 mark in the third quarter, while adding a putback moments later. That sequence was the start of a 8-0 run by the Lions, who grabbed a 36-29 advantage at the end of the third quarter.

“I think we were just actually having fun,” Marshall said. “I feel like that momentum just kept us going. The gym was loud even though there were no fans, and our bench was great. It was just an amazing environment.”

The Lions battled back-and-forth with the Blue Jays for much of the first half before taking control of the contest in the third quarter.

Junction City scored the first basket of the second half, but Lawrence’s defense didn’t surrender another field goal for another three minutes after that. At the same time, the LHS offense got things going with good ball movement and efficient shots.

LHS sophomore Daphne Bracker Sturm, who is 6-foot-1, registered a pair of baskets to help get things started for the hosts. Marshall then made a nice steal, which led to a transition bucket. Sophomore Lucy Hardy also hit a baseline jumper.

Harjo capped off the 18-point outburst in the third quarter with a triple, which was her third 3-pointer of the night.

“We’ve struggled at times getting over mistakes,” Dickson said. “The way we fought through adversity, and the way we didn’t hang our heads, I think that was a really good growth for our program.”

Leading 36-29 entering the fourth quarter, Lawrence was able to run a lot of clock with its four-out offense in the final period. The Lions showed tremendous patience and crisp ball movement as they burned out a huge chunk of the fourth quarter.

Keo and Marshall eventually combined to hit six free throws down the stretch when they were put on the charity stripe to end the game.

“We haven’t had an opportunity to work on that, so that’s all the kids,” Dickson said of his late-game delay offense. “I was very proud of them. It shows that we have to play with a lead, but we can make it hard for people to get back into it if we can get into that position.”

Lawrence will travel to Gardner-Edgerton at 7 p.m. Friday.

Junction City (31)

Jayda Harris 1-3 0-0 3, Ava Deguzman 0-2 0-2 0, Mellana Davis 4-8 1-3 9, Lucy Rivery 4-11 0-2 8, Andrea Davis 1-12 4-6 6, Dorian Robinson 2-3 1-2 5. Totals: 12-39 FG 6-15 FT 31 points.

Lawrence (42)

Hailey Ramirez 1-9 0-0 2, Amaya Marshall 4-14 9-9 18, Layla Harjo 3-9 0-0 9, Serenity Keo 1-8 2-4 5, Azura Clark 0-1 0-0 0, Morgann Haaga 0-1 0-0 0, Brecken Ostronic 1-1 0-0 2, Lucy Hardy 1-4 0-0 2, Daphne Bracker Sturm 2-3 0-0 4, Cree Stewart 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 13-51 FG 11-13 FT 42 points.

Junction City 11 11 7 2 — 31

Lawrence 13 5 18 6 — 42

3-point goals: JC 1-8 (Jayda Harris); LHS 5-26 (Harjo 3, Marshall, Keo). Turnovers: JC 18; LHS 13. Fouled out: None.