The biggest player on the floor had the biggest impact on the game.
Helias senior Mai Nienhueser totaled 18 points and pulled down 17 rebounds Saturday as the Lady Crusaders posted a 52-33 win against the California Lady Pintos in the Central Bank Shootout at Rackers Fieldhouse in Jefferson City.
"Mai stepped up and had an excellent game," Helias coach Sarah Eagan said. "We probably could have relied on her a little bit more."
Nienhueser, who totaled one more rebound in the game than the entire California team, scored her points both at the rim and with a nice mid-range jumper.
"When you've got a girl that size who can turn around and hit a 15-footer with some touch, that's a great thing to have," California coach Bobby Sangster said.
Helias, which led 12-8 after one quarter, held California to just two points in the final four minutes of the second quarter to take a 21-14 advantage into intermission.
"We had some quality looks, it's just that some of them rattled in and out for us," Sangster said.
Defensively, the Lady Crusaders hounded Lady Pintos leading scorer Elizabeth Lutz all over the floor.
"We knew we had to limit (Lutz's) touches," Eagan said. "So we had Ashley (Rehagen) face-guard her a little bit and I think that made a difference."
Helias led by as many as 12 points in the third quarter, which ended with the Lady Crusaders holding a 31-21 advantage.
"They've just got a little too much size for us," Sangster said. "That's something we're going to see in districts and it was good for us to get a chance to work against it now."
The Lady Crusaders hit 8-of-11 free throws in the final period to pull away.
"We missed shots in the fourth quarter, they hit their free throws and the score probably isn't indicative of how close this game was," Sangster said.
Lutz finished with 11 points to lead California, which was just 1-of-8 on 3-pointers in the game.
"We have to be able to shoot better than that if we want to be successful," Sangster said.
Luci Francka and Lauren Alexander added 12 points each for Helias.
"Our scoring was spread out a little bit and that's good," Eagan said.
Helias (12-8) will host St. Joseph's Academy on Tuesday night. The JV game will start at 5 p.m., with the varsity to follow around 6:30 p.m.
"Helias is very good on this floor," Sangster said. "They play so well here. For us to come in here and play what I think is a top-10 team in Class 4 to a game like this is great for us."
California (10-10) is back in action Monday at home against Versailles. The JV game will start at 6 p.m., with the varsity to follow around 7:30 p.m.
"It's all about getting better and this was another step in that journey," Sangster said.