The lion roared again last night, resulting in another lopsided win for Howard High’s girls basketball team.

In a match-up of teams missing starters, the fifth-ranked Lions, through some hot shooting and a smothering man-to-man defense, stormed out to a commanding 17-4 lead after the opening eight minutes and never let up en route to a 58-29 victory Friday night against host Atholton to improve to 5-0 on the season.

Friday’s victory marked the fourth time the Lions (4-0 Howard) have defeated their fellow Howard County foes by at least 29 points. Howard’s average margin of victory in those four wins is a staggering 40 points while it also defeated California’s Bonita Vista, 53-50, during play in last weekend’s She Got Game Classic in Washington, D.C.

The team’s secret to success thus far this season has been a versatile offense that includes dribble drives for layups and 3-point barrages from all over the perimeter by nearly every player who steps on the court and a harassing defense that forces numerous turnovers that are routinely turned into instant offense.

“We are really emphasizing shooting, but we also want to be able to drive to the bucket,” said Lions swingman Gabby Kennerly, who paced all scorers with 21 points in a little more than three quarters of action. “That’s something we do over and over again (in practice) and continue to get better. We really emphasize defense, defense, defense, and our practices are 100 times harder than we actually play in the game.”

Howard dropped in three 3-pointers in the first quarter, including two from Jenna Vetter (12 points, four 3-pointers) from the right baseline, and converted eight points in the lane on running jump shots or layups for the early 13-point advantage.

“Just doing things we know we can do and just trusting each other,” said Howard point guard Samiyah Nasir on why her squad has been so dominant so far this season. “The chemistry is great. We have a lot of incoming freshmen who have adapted to us and the way we play the game. Just communicating and going hard in practice is setting us up for these wins.”

Nasir chipped in four of her six points on back-to-back fastbreak layups to help extend Howard’s lead to 32-12 by halftime, a score that may have been considerably closer had the Raiders made a few more close-range shots afford them through numerous offensive rebounds in the first half.

“We were playing with a limited bench and limited players, but I thought the kids who got the opportunity played hard, but we were missing our putbacks, offensive putbacks, and not taking advantage of the opportunities that we had,” said Atholton coach Julia Reynold, who was sans two injured starters in the contest. “Howard is a very good team and every time you make a run, they make a clutch three in the corner.”

The Lions buried three straight 3-pointers to open the third quarter to forge a 41-14 advantage that stood at 51-22 going into the fourth quarter. Howard knocked down nine 3-pointers and converted 11 shots inside the free throw lane for the game. It also forced Atholton into committing 24 turnovers in the contest.

Keagan Williams paced the Raiders (3-2, 2-2 Howard) with nine points while Samara Mims and Kendi Caldwell each chipped in eight points.

Howard, which lost in the Class 3A state final to Poly, has a tough non-league contest Saturday. The Lions face Montgomery County private school Holy Cross at the Panther Classic at Pikesville at 3:45 p.m.

Undefeated St. Mary’s kick off action at Pikesville against Southern Maryland’s Great Mills at 10:30 a.m., followed by New Town versus Gerstell Academy (12:15 p.m.).

In a Top 15 match, No. 8 Old Mill takes on 12th-ranked Mount Carmel at 2 p.m., with host and No. 13 Pikesville playing 11th-ranked Concordia Prep in the finale at 5:30 p.m.

NO. 5 HOWARD 58, ATHOLTON 29

Howard 17 15 19 7 - 58

Atholton 4 8 13 4 - 29

Howard: Gabby Kennerly 21, Jenna Vetter 12, Riley Watson 7, Alana Harrison 4, Samiyah Nasir 6, Sadie Smith 5, Mariana Allen-Jones 3. Totals: 22 5-7 58.

Atholton: Keagan Williams 9, Samara Mims 8, Kendi Caldwell 8, Chloe Coughlan 2, Olivia Seeto 2. Totals: 14 0-3 29.