Opening night was a mixed bag for the Jefferson City Lady Jays.
"Some good, some bad, some you really don't want to talk about," Jefferson City coach Shane Meyer said after the Lady Jays finished 1-2 in three games Friday night in a Jamboree at Helias. "But it was good for us to get out and run some stuff against some different folks and have some different stuff run against us."
Jefferson City opened with its lone win, a 16-14 decision against the Blair Oaks Lady Falcons.
With the game knotted at 14 and :36 left on the clock, the Lady Jays moved the ball around deep into the clock before getting to Megan Foster down low with :01.5 remaining. She was fouled on a shot attempt and hit both free throws to seal the victory.
"Possessions like that are going to be important for us this season as we move into more of a time-and-possession team," Meyer said. "We did a good job of moving the basketball."
Things didn't go so well the rest of the night. Jefferson City turned the ball over 13 times in its second game against Fatima, trailing 16-0 after the first six-minute quarter on its way to a 22-4 loss.
The turnovers continued in the third game. Jefferson City had 11 in a 16-6 loss to Helias.
"Helias did a good job of making us uncomfortable, it didn't seem like we wanted to throw it to anyone in the same uniform as us," Meyer said.
Meyer wants his team to use Friday night as a learning experience.
"I think the kids can see some of the things we've been trying to reinforce in practice, they probably can see the necessity of some of that stuff," Meyer said.
The Lady Jays played three games consisting of two six-minute quarters.
"The event is great and it's a huge benefit for the winter sports," Meyer said. "It really should pay dividends heading into the first week of the season."
Jefferson City is slated to open the season Tuesday at Sullivan, a quarterfinalist in Class 4 last season.