photo by: Submitted photo

The Lawrence High girls basketball team is traveling across the region this summer for team camps, scrimmages and more.

Jeff Dickson coaches basketball at full speed.

Nearly three months ago, the Lawrence High head girls basketball coach led his team back to the Class 6A state tournament for the first time since 2017. He put together a dynamite starting five that played as if they had nothing to lose.

But, as is routine for any high school basketball coach, Dickson sent off four All-Area seniors that put the program back on the map. This summer, a lineup of familiar faces is out to keep the program in the spotlight.

“We started the Tuesday after school got out,” Dickson said. “It was four and a half hours a day and we’ve literally gone nonstop since then. Nobody’s had an excuse not to come.”

LHS is having no trouble getting outside the weight room, either. The team returned last week from a high school basketball camp at Oklahoma State, testing their game against several teams across the Midwest, including Sapulpa High — Oklahoma’s Class 5A state champions.

Dickson’s team is preparing for the Shotclock Showdown, a series of games using Kansas’ newly-implemented shot-clock system, at Mill Valley this weekend. For LHS, it’s an opportunity to scout out and profile other Sunflower League programs during the summer months.

The early look at the competition will be yet another chance to test out different starting lineups. Dickson, losing four of his five starters to graduation, returns just one starter this year — junior point guard Brynnae Johnson.

“We still have a very high standard we’re being set to,” Johnson said. “The biggest takeaway from this group is just being positive all the time, learning from each other, listening to each other and being able to talk and change things that will help each other.”

photo by: Submitted photo

The Lawrence High girls basketball attended the Jacie Hoyt High School Basketball Camp last week in at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Johnson, the team’s leading scorer last season with 12.6 points per game, hopes to usher in the same leadership that she received from her predecessors. She’ll have plenty of help, too, with five incoming seniors — Azura Clark, Cyrenity Hardy, Destiny Savannah, Delilah Barnes and Miri Pickman — slated to return.

Savannah, picking up steady minutes in Year 3, said last year’s bench is capable of bringing the same brand of defensive pressure that fueled last year’s 18-4 campaign.

“(Defense) can translate over to our offense,” Savannah said. “That’s a really big thing for us. I think one of our biggest strengths is our speed. We’re quick with the ball and we all know the court.”

Will the Lady Lions’ defense rise to the caliber capable of sending this team to state? Dickson sure hopes so, but that’s not the real prize of a rigorous summer schedule.

Basketball, like any high school sport, takes a toll on every athlete, mentally and physically, no matter the season of play.

So, while Dickson’s team is doing just about everything they can to become the hoops stars they idolize online or on TV, his players are also shaping themselves into adults in real-time.

“We put a premium on team building and our culture that the kids have built,” Dickson said. “At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about.

“They might remember this big loss or this big win, but, overall, it’s about the friends that they formed, the lessons that they learned, that’ll prepare them for later on in life when they hit actual adversity. Losing your job, getting divorced, having somebody pass away — that’s adversity.”