The story unfortunately unfolded that way again in the season opener this year.

Louisburg shut out THS in the first quarter while building a 13-point lead.

The Chieftains then proceeded to outscore the Wildcats in each of the next three quarters, but it wouldn’t be enough.

LHS held on for a 36-27 victory and handed Tonganoxie its first loss in the process.

“I think we’re actually a lot more pleased than the score would let on,” THS coach Mitch Loomis said Sunday. “We got off to a really bad start … made turnovers. If one or two of those things change early, it’s a completely different game, so we’re definitely not going to go into panic mode or anything.”

Brooklyn Lang led Tonganoxie with 10 points. She had two three-pointers on the night. Fellow seniors Raegan Seba and Emma Sunderland each had a three-pointer for THS as well. Louisburg junior Emma Prettyman led all scorers with 16.

Tonganoxie found itself in the same predicament last year on multiple occasions — slow start and then a notable comeback only for the rally to fall short. On Friday, Tonganoxie narrowed the margin to single digits, but just couldn’t overcome that first quarter.

Loomis addressed those things with the team after Friday’s loss and again during a weekend game-film session.

“I think our message was we’ve just got to execute a lot of little things better,” Loomis said. “That’s a good thing and bad thing. We’re not fixing major problems, fixing 2-3 feet in the wrong place, things like that. Our message has been just trust what they’re doing.”

Tonganoxie’s next game will be Tuesday when Atchison comes to town. The Phoenix are 1-0 on

the season after winning, 45-40, Thursday against Heritage Christian Academy on the road.

The THS coaching staff continues to look at ways to get off to a better start. Loomis mentioned finding ways for the team to play more loose early on, but he noted that effort kept the team in the game.

“I think the effort was probably helped us the most Friday night,” he explained. “We played six girls and they all played insanely hard for the full 32 minutes.

“We weren’t having to get on them about that. Their effort was through the roof. We were worried about depth.”

LOUISBURG GIRLS 36, TONGANOXIE 27

Score by quarters

Louisburg 13 8 10 5 — 36

Tonganoxie 0 9 11 7 –27

Individual scoring

LHS — Emma Lohse 2, Brianne Kuhlman 2, Delaney Wright 3, Adyson Ross 5, Delanie Tally 1, Jordan Mynsted 11, Emma Prettyman 16, Sierra Hahn 2.

THS — Hattie Baldock 3, Emma Sunderland 3, Raegan Seba 7, Brooklyn Lang 10, Chyanne Aaron 2, Sage Isaacs 2.