Megan Engesser and Rachel Ingram aren’t seniors, but they stole the spotlight on senior night.

The pair of Colorado Springs Christian School sophomores led their Lions (16-2, 10-1 3A Tri-Peaks) to a shocking 61-43 rout of rival St. Mary’s (15-1, 9-1) Friday night, making a loud and clear statement that CSCS is one of the premier teams in the state.

“We played our hearts out,” said Engesser, who scored 31 points. “We knew what they were going to do, and we shut them down. We love each other, and play for each other, and that’s what we did tonight.”

What the Lions did was come out throwing haymakers, and stunning the previously undefeated and No. 1 team in the state.

It was 13-1 with less than a minute left in the first quarter, and the Pirates never recovered, as CSCS grew more confident and poured it on.

“I think we shocked them, and a lot of other people,” said Ingram, who scored 18 points. “I don’t think many people thought we had a chance to win this game, but we worked really hard preparing. We’re real competitors in this league, and we didn’t want people to forget about us.”

The win pulls CSCS into a three-way tie with St. Mary’s and Lamar in the 3A Tri-Peaks standings, as each team has one loss, with Lamar beating CSCS, and St. Mary’s defeating Lamar.

This wasn’t just a victory to validate the Lions in 2017, it was also a moment of culmination for a program that has made tremendous strides in a short amount of time.

This is the third season for the girls’ team under coach Mark Engesser – who also coaches the CSCS boys’ team.

In Engesser’s first year at the helm of the girls’ squad, they were 5-15.

Last year, they improved to 17-7, and now have taken a leap to elite status.

“We’ve come a long way in three years,” said an emotional Engesser. “I’m so proud of these girls; they’ve been working so hard to get to this point, and it paid off tonight.”

As elated as the home team was, the visitors had an equal level of shock. St. Mary’s could’ve all-but clinched the outright league title with a win, but instead must regroup from its first defeat of the season before the playoffs begin.

CSCS hounded St. Mary’s sharpshooter Olivia Florek all game, holding her to eight points, and forcing her to take contested and rushed shots.

“We were in shock,” Florek said of the first quarter. “They are a really good team, and they had way more heart and hustle. Even after halftime, they still came out with more fire than us.

“We needed a wake-up call like this, and it shows us we have to keep working hard and that we aren’t invincible.”

CSCS was the more physical and aggressive team – shooting 36 free throws, compared to just eight for the Pirates, who settled for jumpers.

“We threw the ball away a few times, and they hit some early threes,” St. Mary’s coach Mike Burkett said. “Give them all the credit in the world, because they came out and punched us in the face and beat us.

“This is a good lesson – the goal isn’t to go undefeated, and everything is still in front of us.”