Hickman girls shut down Helias

The Helias Lady Crusaders like to use a pressure defense to fluster their opponents.

On Sunday night, they were the ones that appeared flustered.

"We made bad passes, we took bad shots," Helias coach Doug Light said after the Lady Crusaders dropped a 46-26 decision to the Hickman Kewpies in the semifinals of the State Farm Holiday Hoops Invitational at Rackers Fieldhouse.

"They capitalized on our mistakes."

It was a competitive first quarter as both teams were strong on the defensive end as Hickman held an 8-6 lead.

Things started to turn in the second quarter. Helias turned the ball over six times in the period while Hickman went 6-of-8 from the field to take a 23-13 advantage into intermission.

"We got very frustrated," Light said. "Hickman plays such good defense, they make you have to work. That's what we try to do to people and that's what they pulled on us.

"We're still in the infant stages of our team development and we didn't handle it."

Emily Miller scored nine of Hickman's 11 points in the third quarter as the Kewpies stretched their lead to 34-22.

"She had a tough day shooting (Saturday) and I knew she'd hit those shots against us," Light said. "If she starts missing stuff, you've got a shot at it, but that wasn't happening."

Down by double digits, Helias opted to start fouling early in the fourth quarter. Hickman was 10-of-19 from the line in the final period.

"We were acting like it was a really close game because there were things we wanted to work on," Light said. "We could have let it stay a little closer, but it was a good chance to work on late-game situations."

Miller, who had 20 of Hickman's 34 points through three quarters, finished with 22.

"She's really good, you have to account for her," Light said. "She moves around so much, you always have to be looking for her."

Ashley Rehagen paced the Lady Crusaders with nine points, while Darcy Baird had eight.

Helias (4-3) will take on Blue Springs South in the third-place game at 5:30 p.m. today. St. Joseph Benton defeated Blue Springs South 54-28 in Sunday's first semifinal.

"We can't look at what happened to them in their semifinal," Light said. "They're a good team and it will be another good game for us."