photo by: Chance Parker

Lawrence High sophomore Lucy Hardy dribbles the ball up the court against Olathe Northwest Thursday evening at LHS on Dec. 3, 2020.

Lawrence High’s girls basketball team faltered down the stretch in a hard-fought 37-35 loss to Mill Valley Friday night at LHS.

The Lions took a 30-27 lead into the final quarter, but were unable to hang on in the end. The Jaguars closed it out by scoring 10 points in the final period, which was their lone double-digit effort across the four quarters.

Mill Valley recorded the game-winning bucket in the final seconds. The visitors were led by Emree Zars, who scored a game-high 21 points.

“That was a tough game to lose,” LHS head coach Jeff Dickson said. “We (had) plenty of opportunities to get the job done, and we didn’t do it.”

LHS (1-6) was held to just 5 points in the final quarter, marking its lowest output of the night. The Lions really played from in front for much of the game after scoring 15 points in the second quarter to grab a 22-18 advantage at halftime.

Layla Harjo was the only player to score in double figures for Lawrence. The junior finished with 13 points after drilling a trio of 3-pointers. Amaya Marshall and Serenity Keo each added 5 points in the loss. They both knocked down one triple as well.

“We did a lot of things better tonight and for longer,” Dickson said. “We know we let one get away from us. How we bounce back tomorrow in practice will say a lot about our character and our toughness.”

Lawrence will play host to Shawnee Mission North at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Mill Valley 9 9 9 10 — 37

Lawrence 7 15 8 5 — 35

Lawrence (35)

Hailey Ramirez 4, Amaya Marshall 5, Layla Harjo 13, Lucy Hardy 2, Serenity Keo 5, Morgann Haaga 2, Azura Clark 4.