Lady Jays beat Lady Crusaders in third-place game

Morgan Wieberg of Helias drives against Jefferson City's Megan Foster on Wednesday in the third-place game of the Holiday Hoops Invitational at Rackers Fieldhouse.
Morgan Wieberg of Helias drives against Jefferson City's Megan Foster on Wednesday in the third-place game of the Holiday Hoops Invitational at Rackers Fieldhouse.

In their first two games of the Holiday Hoops Invitational, the Jefferson City Lady Jays struggled to score.

The rims at Rackers Fieldhouse seemed downright unfriendly to Jefferson City, as shots would rattle around before bouncing out as the Lady Jays posted point totals of 38 and 36.

Things changed Wednesday night.

Jefferson City converted on 50 percent of its attempts in the Invitational's third-place game and defeated the Helias Lady Crusaders 62-36.

"It's not like we shot lights out, but we were better," Jefferson City coach Brad Conway said. "Our execution on offense was good against both their man and their zone defenses."

On the other side, the Lady Crusaders struggled to put points on the board.

"We scored 15 points less than we normally score," Helias coach Sarah Eagan said. "And when you do that, you can't let someone score in the 60s."

The Lady Jays got off to a good start and a three-point play by Megan Foster gave Jefferson City a 7-1 lead with 2:25 to go in the opening period. Four straight free throws by Lauren Alexander pulled Helias to within 7-5 before Jefferson City closed the quarter on a 7-0 run to take a 14-5 lead.

Helias had seven turnovers in the quarter and 21 in the game.

"We need to take that extra half-second, get focused and see what we can do with the ball after that," Eagan said. "Their press breaker really slowed us down, it got to our confidence a little bit."

Helias made another run at Jefferson City at the start of the second quarter. Ashley Rehagen's 3-pointer and two free throws, along with a put-back by Mai Nienhueser, pulled the Lady Crusaders to within a point at 14-13.

"We work hard to get the lead and then go back on our heels and let them get back in it," Conway said.

But Jefferson City had the answer again, scoring the game's next 13 points. Foster had five of her game-high 24 points in the run as Helias went more than 3 1/2 minutes without scoring as Jefferson City took a 27-15 advantage into intermission.

At the half, Conway had a little chat with the Lady Jays about not allowing the Lady Crusaders to get another run to get back in the game.

"I told them we needed to keep going, not look at the scoreboard and just play like we are capable of playing," he said. "There were times we looked really, really good, we just need to be more consistent."

The Lady Jays proceeded to hit 8-of-13 shots in the third quarter to stretch their advantage to 45-28 after three quarters. The 26-point final margin was the biggest of the game.

"Our focus was pretty good," Conway said.

Jefferson City had just six turnovers in the game.

"That's good, that's good," Conway said. "We've been inconsistent with turnovers, sometimes trying to do too much."

Jefferson City (9-3) will host Waynesville on Monday. It will be the first home game for the Lady Jays since they fell to Kickapoo 65-54 on Dec. 1.

"For three days, the girls came out and played hard," Conway said. "If you get two out of three, that's not a bad tournament."

Helias will host Camdenton on Monday.

"This was a tough tournament," Eagan said. "To get Hickman in the semifinals and Jefferson City in the third-place game, it really was a couple of tough tests."