For one half, it was the one of the best performances of the season for the Helias Lady Crusaders.
After the second half, well, it was a win.
Helias used a 10-0 run early in the first quarter to take the lead for good Tuesday night as the Lady Crusaders topped the Father Tolton Lady Blazers 48-33 at a packed Rackers Fieldhouse.
"Our kids were really energized because of the big crowd," Helias coach Doug Light said. "When you come out for warmups and the place is already full, it really gives you a boost and it's great for girls basketball."
After Tolton recorded the game's first basket, Helias rattled off 10 straight points to take the lead for good. Luci Francka had six points in the spurt, including a pair of buckets after steals.
"Luci really did a great job at the point of our press," Light said. "She's really embraced that role."
The Lady Crusaders led by as many as 13 points in that opening quarter, including a 20-7 advantage heading into the second period.
Helias then scored 11 of the first 13 points in the second quarter to extend its advantage. Mai Nienhueser and Ashley Rehagen had four points each in that stretch off the bench for the Lady Crusaders.
"We got a lot of effort from a lot of girls in this game," Light said.
The Lady Crusaders took a 35-14 advantage into halftime. Helias outrebounded Tolton 24-11 and committed just five turnovers, half of Tolton's total.
"Our press really got to them at times, we had so much pressure on them," Light said.
And then came the final two quarters.
"Maybe we got so far ahead, we relaxed a little bit," Light said. "But Father Tolton is a very good team and Curt Riley is not going to let his team just roll over."
The Lady Blazers outscored the Lady Crusaders 8-7 in the third quarter and trailed 42-22 heading into the final period.
Tolton got as close as 13 points in the final period, that coming at 46-33 with 1:25 remaining.
"They got a few things going their way and they made a push at us," Light said. "We had to handle some adversity and we kept doing enough, we were steady enough, to not let them get that big run to really let them get back into the game."
While Helias' offense struggled, the defense kept doing its job and held Tolton to just 19 second-half points.
"We had chances to score more points, but our defense really kept us in it," Light said.
Francka was the lone Lady Crusader in double figures with 11 points. Molly Sandbothe pulled down a game-high nine rebounds for Helias, which held a 41-24 edge on the boards.
Laura Elfrink came off the bench to lead Tolton (14-9) with eight points.
Helias (14-9) will play Thursday at undefeated Boonville. The Lady Pirates, ranked No. 3 in Class 3, improved to 22-0 with a 71-38 win Tuesday night against Moberly.