Things got progressively better Friday night for the Helias Lady Crusaders.
After an opening loss, the Lady Crusaders rebounded to close with a pair of victories in Jamboree action at Helias.
"It couldn't have started any worse," Helias coach Doug Light said. "We redeemed ourselves in that second game and then we carried it over into the third one."
The Lady Crusaders struggled throughout their first contest, a pair of six-minute quarters against the Fatima Lady Comets. Helias trailed 8-0 after the first quarter on its way to a 24-9 loss.
Helias was 3-of-9 from the field with 10 turnovers against Fatima.
Helias then outscored Blair Oaks 8-3 in the second quarter to pull away to a 14-7 victory in its second game. Kaysie Scheuler came off the bench to lead the Lady Crusaders with six points.
"She was a sparkplug, she played with a lot of energy and got everybody going," Light said.
Helias then scored the first 11 points against Jefferson City on its way to a 16-6 win against the Lady Jays.
"We started to find our identity," Light said.
Luci Francka had seven points for Helias in the third game.
This is the first year for basketball Jamborees in Missouri and Light gave the night a huge thumbs-up.
"The intensity level at practice is never the same as when you're going against somebody different," Light said. "We needed to find out what it was going to be like in a game situation and I loved it."
Helias will open the regular-season Monday at home agianst Mexico. The junior varsity game will start at 6 p.m., with the varsity to folow around 7:30 p.m.