Joni Lawrence had enough. The Meadowview Christian School Lady Trojans were struggling and the senior shooting guard knew it.

“Here we were, a (Class) 2A school letting a 1A school hang around,” Lawrence said. “They were out-hustling us and I was getting frustrated.”

That’s when Lawrence took matters into her own hands.

Lawrence broke open a close game with a trio of three-pointers Thursday night and the Lady Trojans went on to beat the South Montgomery County Academy Lady Raiders, 59-45.

Haley McIntyre scored a career-high 41 points, but it was Lawrence’s shooting that pulled her and the Lady Trojans out of a first-half bind.

After struggling from the field in the first half, Lawrence came alive in the third period.

“Coach (Mike) Cassebaum got on me at halftime,” Lawrence said. “He told me to straighten up or I’d be on the bench.”

Her first three came from left corner and keyed an 11-0 MCS run.

Lawrence followed with another three-pointer, this one from the right wing to stretch the margin to 37-29. Her third three-pointer of the quarter came from the top of the key and extended the lead to 40-29.

SMCA pulled to within 54-40 with 3:04 remaining in the game, but McIntyre quickly quelled the rally with a pair of free throws and a running lay-up through the middle of the Lady Raiders’ defense to start a three-point play that gave the Lady Trojans a 59-41 lead.

The Lady Trojans (13-5) were out-played at both ends of the court for much of the first half. The Lady Raiders trailed 13-8 after the first period, but quickly turned that around.

SMCA aggressively challenged the Meadowview Christian defense, taking the ball to the hoop and daring the Lady Trojans to stop them.

SMCA drew foul after foul and was in the bonus with 1:31 to go in the first period.

After a Chrystal Sanders free throw tied the game at 21, Whitney Wyatt drove the right baseline for a lay-up to give SMCA a 23-21 advantage.

Kasey Burton gained another tie with a 15-foot baseline shot. McIntyre’s running lay-up with 2.8 seconds before the buzzer gave the Lady Trojans a 27-25 halftime lead.