The last of the Manhattan High girls basketball team’s three-game string of losses began much the same way as Tuesday night’s contest.

The Lady Indians felt confident in the amount of intensity they brought into each game, but Tuesday night was different.

Because instead of dropping further down in the league standings, Manhattan steamrolled rival Junction City, 67-35, and snapped its three-game losing streak on senior night.

The game served as MHS’ three seniors’ final time competing under the roof of the gym they have called home — some for all four years, and some, like Madison Mittie, for only the last two, after transferring her junior year from Texas.

Still, though, she said the night was an emotional one.

“It was really special, and we had a really great crowd, so that awesome,” Mittie, who totaled 14 points Tuesday, said. “It’s nice to finish off playing here with the girls on our team.”

The trio of seniors, which includes Tarrah Bammes and Mackenzie Gwinner, followed last year’s group of six seniors. But head coach Scott Mall said this year’s group was just as valuable.

“Three outstanding girls, and three girls that all come by differently,” he said. “Madison Mittie had to move here as a junior; a lot of adjustment there. But [she’s] worked hard to fit in, and also to improve her game. She’s just had an outstanding season, all around…. And then Tarrah Bamames — what a lesson in a girl working. She’s played behind a big class that graduated last year, but she just kept working and working and doing everything she could to get better, and she’s had an outstanding season.

“And then Mackenzie Gwinner — just the perfect girls you’d want to have on your team. She’s a great leader; she’s a great girl. She’ll do whatever it takes.”

Though Gwinner has not seen many minutes this season, she started and posted the game’s first points with a layup.

Junction City kept pace with Manhattan for the next three baskets, but from there, the rout was on.

After the Lady Jays tied the game at six, MHS ripped off an 18-2 run that stretched into the second frame. Mittie canned a triple later in the second, and when freshman Garrin Williams connected on two free throws five minutes later, Manhattan’s lead was up to 20, at 37-17.

The Lady Indians checked into halftime with a 42-17 advantage.

Junction City’s Kealee Rains led her team with eight first-half points, but 12 JC turnovers in the first half made it difficult for the Lady Jays to make any dents in the deficit.

Mittie thought Manhattan’s full-court press did its job.

“For the most part, I thought it did,” she said. “But I think at times we struggled, because they would slash a girl to the middle, and then run the other girl up the side. And we talked about that in practice, but we kept forgetting about the girl flashing to the middle, so they kept they getting it there.”

Junction City kept it cleaner in the second half, with only six second-half guffaws, but Manhattan did not relent. Junior Kennedy Wilson tallied three of her eight points in the third frame, and MHS carried a 56-27 lead into the final period.

The fourth quarter was largely garbage time, and the Lady Indians ended their 2015-16 home campaign with a blowout.

Now, though, MHS turns its attention to a Friday road tilt with Seaman, a team Manhattan demolished 75-41 in early January.

After that, a sub-state matchup with Topeka High and standout Adrianna Henderson looks likely for the Lady Indians.

But Mall remains focused on the task at hand.

“We’re going to have to build on [this game],” he said. “We’ve had some tough games down there in the past to end the season, so I’m sure they’ll be trying to get ready for sub-state. We’re going to have to come out with the same focus that we had these last two games, and really get after it and execute.”